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Tribune News Service

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.”
The organisation noted that Hediger grew up in Zurich-area Horgen but spent a lot of time in Arosa.
There had been a great deal of snowfall in the days leading up to the avalanche, according to Le Parisien.
An estimated 2,300 landslide avalanches were reported to the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) last winter, up from 293 the previous winter.
“There, her life has now found a tragic, abrupt, much too early end at freeriding, a beloved hobby,” the federation said.
Freeride snowboarding, also known as backcountry or sidecountry snowboarding, generally involves foregoing established trails for unmarked mountain routes.
Swiss Ski said that, after conferring with Hediger’s family and life partner, it would not further detail the circumstances surrounding her death and requested privacy for her loved ones.
Hediger competed at the Beijing Games in the women’s snowboard cross and the mixed team version of the same event.
She achieved her first two World Cup podium finishes in the 2023-24 season. Her best result was a second place in St Moritz in January.
She also hoped to win a medal at the world championship in March in Switzerland’s Engadin.
Hediger last posted on Instagram on December 15 to share that she had competed in her first world cup of the season at Cervino Ski Paradise.


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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


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.


Swiss Olympic snowboarder Sophie Hediger killed in avalanche days after her 26th birthday

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}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

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