Sutton, who was James Bond’s stunt-double in London 2012 opening ceremony, hit ridge after jumping from helicopter The stuntman who played James Bond’s double at the London Olympics’ opening ceremony has died in a wingsuit accident in Switzerland. Mark Sutton, 42, was killed on Wednesday when he hit a mountain ridge, after jumping from a helicopter in the aerodynamic suit, a preliminary investigation by police has indicated.
Sutton, who was James Bond’s stunt-double in London 2012 opening ceremony, hit ridge after jumping from helicopter
The stuntman who played James Bond’s double at the London Olympics’ opening ceremony has died in a wingsuit accident in Switzerland.
Mark Sutton, 42, was killed on Wednesday when he hit a mountain ridge, after jumping from a helicopter in the aerodynamic suit, a preliminary investigation by police has indicated.
His friend Gary Connery, who doubled for the Queen and jumped with Daniel Craig’s substitute into the Olympic stadium, told the Sun that Sutton had been smart, articulate and funny.
“In any sport where you share a common bond you can make friends in a heartbeat that last a lifetime,” he said. “My relationship with Mark was like that.”
Wingsuits are special jumpsuits which increase the surface area of the body and act like a parachute wing, allowing users to glide through the air at high speeds before deploying a parachute.
Police in the Swiss Valais canton said a 42-year-old Briton had died after jumping with a friend from a helicopter while wearing a wingsuit above the Grandes-Otannes area, close to the French border. In a statement they said the men had jumped from a height of 10,826ft (3,300m) at around 11am and had planned to land close to the hamlet of Le Peuty, near Trient.
But Sutton, a former Gurkha Rifles’s officer, whose YouTube account shows a number of his wingsuit flights, has yet to be formally identified.
“The victim, a Briton, was 42 years old. He was staying in Chamonix [in France] with 20 followers, considered among the best in the world in this discipline,” the police statement said.
The wingsuiters were in the region as guests of a company specialising in filming extreme sport for the internet.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Connery said in what appeared to be a grieving message: “All you jumpers/flyers out there, stay safe, make wise choices and know your limits and your locations live to tell your stories one love.”
Two months before the pair’s spectacular Olympics appearance, Connery became the first man to complete a skydive without a parachute and only a wingsuit, “jumping from a helicopter at 2400 ft and flying 3/4 of a mile to land in a big pile of cardboard boxes mounted on cow pats!!!” – as he put it on his website.