Swiss Olympic snowboarder dies in avalanche at 26 years old

Sophie Hediger, a member of Switzerland’s snowboard cross team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, has died following an avalanche at a mountain resort, the country’s skiing federation said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred on Monday at the Arosa resort in Switzerland. Hediger spent a lot of time in Arosa where she practiced her beloved hobby freeriding, said Swiss-Ski CEO Walter Reusser in a statement.  Her life “came to a tragic, sudden and far too early end,” Reusser said.

Hediger, 26, competed at the Beijing Games in the women’s snowboard cross and the mixed team version of the same event. 

Hediger 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 grew up in Horgen, a town about 20 minutes by car from Zurich. 

Swiss Ski said they wouldn’t 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 immeasurably sad,” said Reusser.

Hediger’s death came less than four years after another Olympic snowboarder died in the Swiss Alps during an avalanche. In 2021, Julie Pomagalski, a former Olympic snowboarder from France, was 40 years old. Four people were freeriding together when the avalanche happened, the French federation said. Pomagalski’s guide also died.