Snowboarder Sophie Hediger, a 26-year-old from Switzerland who’d competed in the Olympics, was killed in an avalanche that crashed down a slope in the Swiss resort town of Arosa.
The Swiss-Ski federation confirmed Hediger’s death on its website.
Hediger competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, finishing seventh in the mixed team snowboard cross race. According to Swiss-Ski, Hediger secured her first two World Cup podium places during the 2023-2024 season.
In a statement published in German, Swiss-Ski CEO Walter Reusser said that he was stunned by her death, adding that her life came to a tragic and sudden end.
“For the Swiss-Ski family, the tragic death of Sophie Hediger has cast a dark shadow over the Christmas holidays,” Reusser said, according to a translation of his comments. “We are immeasurably sad. We will keep an honorable memory of Sophie.”
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Swiss-Ski said it would refrain from sharing details of Hediger’s death, as requested by the snowboarder’s family.
In the most recent post on her Instagram page, from late January, Hediger celebrated winning her first World Cup podium in St. Moritz, Switzerland, writing that she “couldn’t be happier.”
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