Swiss snowboarding Olympian dies in avalanche

1:51 pm on 25 December 2024

(FILES) Switzerland's Sophie Hediger competes in the snowboard women's cross seeding run during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Genting Snow Park P & X Stadium in Zhangjiakou on February 9, 2022. - Swiss snowboarder Sophie Hediger, who had two World Cup podium finishes to her name and had taken part in the Olympic Games in 2022, died in an avalanche on December 23, 2024, in Arosa, eastern Switzerland, the Swiss Ski Federation said on December 24, 2024. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP)

Sophie Hediger competing at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Photo: AFP / MARCO BERTORELLO

A member of Switzerland's national snowboard cross team has died in an avalanche at the mountain resort of Arosa in the east of the country, the Swiss-Ski federation said.

Sophie Hediger, 26, was caught up in the avalanche in Arosa, which lies west of Davos, on Monday, the federation said.

"We are speechless, and our thoughts are with Sophie's family, to whom we express our deepest condolences," Walter Reusser, the Sport CEO at Swiss-Ski said in a statement.

Hediger secured her first two World Cup podium places in the 2023-24 season and took part in the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, according to the federation.

Swiss-Ski said it would keep further details about her death private, as agreed with her family and partner.

- Reuters