Extreme athlete who appeared with Madonna at Super Bowl dies

Extreme athlete Andy Lewis, who performed alongside Madonna during her 2012 Super Bowl halftime show, has died in a BASE jumping accident in Utah. He was 39.

Lewis and Arizona businessman Danny Joe Kregle, aged 68, were killed on Sunday (14 June) in Mineral Bottom, a remote canyon area close to the Utah-Colorado border. The Grand County Sheriff’s Office said emergency crews, including rescue personnel and two helicopters, were dispatched after reports of injuries during a BASE jump. Authorities are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Sheriff Jamison Wiggins later confirmed that the pair had been attempting a tandem jump. According to reports, Kregle died at the scene, while Lewis survived for several hours as medical staff tried to save him.

Who was extreme athlete Andy Lewis?

Lewis was widely recognised within the worlds of BASE jumping, slacklining and tricklining. Between 2008 and 2011, he won four consecutive world titles in competitive slacklining. In 2011, he also set a Guinness World Record for slackline surfing at China’s Diaoshuilou waterfall.

His profile rose in 2012 when he took part in Madonna’s Super Bowl XLVI halftime performance. Dressed in a Roman-style costume, Lewis performed on a slackline while the singer headlined the show.

Based in Moab, Utah, Lewis operated BASE Jump Moab, which offered tandem jumps to customers, and was also involved with Moab Swingers, an adventure attraction featuring a rope swing suspended above a canyon.

“Danny had a wonderful sense of humour and was always looking for ways to make people laugh” – relative Sydney Laverty told The Times-Independent

Aerial Arts Moab paid tribute to him on social media, describing him as its “co-owner and best friend”.

Kregle, a father and grandfather, was remembered by relative Sydney Laverty, who told The Times-Independent: “Danny had a wonderful sense of humour and was always looking for ways to make people laugh.

“One of his greatest joys was performing magic tricks alongside his granddaughter.”

BASE jumping, which involves parachuting from fixed objects such as cliffs, bridges and buildings, has recorded 540 fatalities worldwide since 1981, including 30 in 2025.

In one of his best-known feats, Lewis walked a slackline suspended between two hot-air balloons more than 4,000 feet above the Nevada desert in 2014.