Swiss Olympic snowboarder Sophie Hediger killed in avalanche days after her 26th birthday
The young athlete, who competed at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, was practising at a Swiss resort area when she was caught in a snowslide
Olympic snowboarder Sophie Hediger was killed on Monday in an avalanche in her native Switzerland, just days after her 26th birthday.
The country’s winter sports federation, Swiss Ski, announced on Tuesday that the young athlete – a member of Switzerland’s snowboard cross team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics – died in the resort town of Arosa, on the heels of her December 14 birthday.
Local authorities said Hediger was practising off-piste, or away from prepared ski runs, with someone else and leaving a closed track when she was caught in the avalanche, according to Le Parisien newspaper.
Emergency services located Hediger after a two-hour search and failed to resuscitate her. An investigation is now under way.
“We are stunned and in our thoughts with Sophie’s family, to whom we express our deepest condolences,” Walter Reusser, CEO Sport of Swiss-Ski, said on Tuesday.
“For the Swiss Ski family, the tragic death of Sophie Hediger has a dark shadow over the Christmas days. We are immeasurably sad. We will keep an honourable memory of Sophie.”
