Skydiving champ dies while attempting risky landing in Texas World News

The 29-year-old extreme athlete, who won gold at the Australian Championships earlier this year, was attempting a “dive” landing.

A 29-year-old champion skydiver has died while attempting a high-risk landing in Texas.

Melissa Potter, from Perth, AustraliaOn June 24, she was testing a “dive,” but landed hard and fell into shallow water, ABC 13 Houston reported.

Witnesses said her parachute was deployed but she was too close to the ground, news.com.au reported.

Ms Porter, who won gold at the Australian Parachuting Championships earlier this year, was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.

ABC 13 Houston said investigators did not find any blunt force trauma to her body and were unsure if she suffered a medical emergency during the dive.

Ms Porter’s mother, Fonnie, told Nine News: “She’s my baby, she’s not coming home.”

She said her daughter loves the sport.

“That was her happy place. She will now roam the world forever in the sky.”

Ms. Porter was an instructor at Skydive Spaceland in Houston.

A dive involves a series of difficult maneuvers that allow a skydiver to “dive” at high speed on the ground or water, followed by a quick and smooth landing.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the New York Post it was “providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian woman who died in the US”.

“Our deepest condolences go out to the woman’s family,” the department said.

Ms Porter broke the Australian women’s total breakout streak record in May when she clocked “2 minutes and 23 seconds”, news.com.au reported.

After winning the Australian Championships with her skydiving partner Josh Tassicker, she told The Voice-Telegraph: “I was shocked when we won the gold medal, but it was also fantastic – it’s amazing. Definitely makes me want to race further.”