Olympic Snowboarder From Switzerland Dies in Avalanche at 26

Sophie Hediger, who competed in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, died in an avalanche in Arosa, Switzerland, according to the police and the Swiss ski federation.


Sophie Hediger was a regular competitor on the international race circuit in snowboard cross. Millo Moravski/Agence Zoom/Getty Images

By Michael Levenson
Dec. 24, 2024

Sophie Hediger, a member of Switzerland’s national snowboard cross team, who competed in the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, died on Monday in an avalanche in the Swiss Alps, the country’s ski federation said. She was 26.

Hediger was a regular competitor on the international race circuit in snowboard cross, which involves multiple snowboarders racing one another down an undulating course that includes jumps. Less than two weeks ago, she competed in a World Cup race in Cervinia, Italy.

In January, she reached the podium for the first time in a World Cup race, finishing second in a competition in St. Moritz, Switzerland. In February, she finished third in a World Cup race in Gudauri, a ski area in the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia.

At the 2022 Olympics, Hediger and Kalle Koblet finished seventh in the mixed team snowboard cross race, which the Americans Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner won, and 19th in the women’s race, which Jacobellis won.

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Michael Levenson covers breaking news for The Times from New York. More about Michael Levenson