Winter Olympic medallist dead at 50 in Switzerland avalanche
Swiss snowboarder and Olympic medallist Ueli Kestenholz has died after being buried in an avalanche on Monday in the Loetschental region of Canton Valais, the Swiss skiing federation Swiss‑Ski said.
Kestenholz was 50 years old.
Kestenholz won a bronze medal in snowboarding's inaugural Olympic event, the giant slalom at Nagano in 1998.
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Swiss snowboarder Ueli Kestenholz. AP
He also secured multiple World Cup podiums, and retired from competition in 2006.
A statement from Valais police, which did not identify Kestenholz by name, said the avalanche swept the snowboarder from the eastern flank of the Hockuchriz peak around 2400 metres up the mountainside.
A skiing companion he was with managed to escape the avalanche, police said.
