Sophie Hediger, a member of the Swiss snowboard cross team Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, died in an avalanche at a mountain resort, the country's skiing federation said on Tuesday.
The incident took place on Monday at the resort of Arosa in Switzerland. Hediger spent a lot of time in Oroz, where she pursued her favorite hobby of freeriding, Swiss-Ski CEO Walter Reusser said in statement Her life was “tragically, suddenly and far too soon cut short,” Reusser said.
Hediger, 26, competed at the Beijing Games in the women's snowboard cross and the mixed team version of the same event.
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In the 2023-24 season, Hediger climbed the podium of the World Cup for the first two times. Her best result was second place in St. Moritz in January. She grew up in Horgen, a town about 20 minutes by car from Zurich.
Swiss Ski said it would not be releasing 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 are deeply saddened,” Reusser said.
Hediger's death comes less than four years after another Olympic snowboarder died in an avalanche in the Swiss Alps. In 2021 Yuli Pomagalskia former Olympic snowboarder from France, was 40 years old. Four people were freeriding together when the avalanche hit, the French federation said. Pomagalskyi's guide also died.