Sophie Hediger, Swiss snowboarding Olympian, dies in avalanche at 26
Switzerland’s national snowboard cross team is mourning the loss of one of their own after Olympian Sophie Hediger died in an avalanche on Monday.
She was 26.
Hediger was swept up in an avalanche in the mountain resort town of Arosa, Switzerland, the Swiss-Ski Federation announced on Tuesday.
“We are stunned and our thoughts are with Sophie’s family, to whom we express our deepest condolences,” federation CEO Walter Reusser said in a statement. “For the Swiss Ski family, the tragic death of Sophie Hediger has cast a dark shadow over the Christmas holidays. We are immeasurably sad. We will keep an honorable memory of Sophie.”
Her death came nine days after she celebrated her 26th birthday on Dec. 14.
Details about the incident are limited and in a release, the Swiss-Ski Federation said that it would not be releasing any further information about Hediger’s death at her family’s request.
Grisons cantonal police had announced on Monday that a snowboarder had died in an avalanche while backcountry skiing, though the identity of the victim was never released, French news outlet Le Parisien reported.
The snowboarder was not located until two hours after emergency services had been notified and police have opened an investigation into the incident.
There had been heavy snowfall in Switzerland over the last several days which raised the risk of potential avalanches, according to Le Parisien.
Hediger had spent a lot of time riding in Arosa, according to the release, and the federation said her life “came to a tragic, sudden and far too early end.”
The 26-year-old had competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in the women’s snowboard cross and the mixed team event.
Hediger earned her first two World Cup podium finishes during the 2023-24 season and her best finish came this past January when she finished second in St. Moritz.
“Wow! what just happened yesterday! got my first World Cup podium at home! couldn’t be happier,” she wrote in an Instagram post after the event.
