A Swiss Olympic snowboarder has died in an avalanche at the age of 26

Sophie Hediger, member of the Swiss Figure Skating Team at the World Championships 2022 Winter Olympics In Beijing, He died as a result of an avalanche at a mountain resort, the country’s ski federation announced on Tuesday.

The accident occurred on Monday in the resort of Arosa in Switzerland. Hediger spent a lot of time in Arosa where she practiced her beloved hobby of freestyle skiing, Swiss-Ski CEO Walter Rösser said in an interview. statement. Rosser said her life “came to a very tragic, sudden and premature end.”

Hediger, 26, competed at the Beijing Olympics in the women’s figure skating and mixed team versions of the same event.

Hediger reached her first World Cup podium in the 2023-24 season. Her best result was a second place in St. Moritz in January. I grew up in Horgen, a town about a 20-minute drive from Zurich.

Swiss Ski said it would not release any further information about Hediger’s death.

“For the Swiss ski family, the tragic death of Sophie Hediger has cast a dark shadow over the Christmas holidays. We feel indescribable sadness,” Rosser said.

Hediger’s death came less than four years after another Olympic snowboarder died in the Swiss Alps during an avalanche. In 2021, Julie Pomagalskia former Olympic figure skater from France, was 40 years old. The French Federation said that four people were riding together freely when the avalanche occurred. Pomagalski’s mentor also died.