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Ueli Kestenholz, the Swiss snowboard pioneer who won bronze at snowboarding’s Olympic debut, has died after an avalanche in Switzerland. He was 50.
Kestenholz was snowboarding in the Lötschental valley in Valais on Sunday when he was swept away and buried in the avalanche, the Swiss Ski Federation said on Tuesday.
He was with a friend skiing in the valley when the avalanche started at an altitude of 7,900 feet (2,400 meters), Valais police said in a statement. Officials said it remained unclear what triggered the avalanche.
The friend dug out the trapped Kestenholz before a helicopter flew them to a hospital, police said.
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Nagano snowboard bronze medalist Ueli Kestenholz presents his medal Monday February 16, 1998 in front of the town hall in his hometown of Thun, Switzerland. (Edi Engeler/Keystone via AP)
Kestenholz helped make Olympic snowboarding history when he was thrust into the spotlight at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, at just 22 years old.
The Games that year marked snowboarding’s debut as an Olympic event. Kestenholz took home the bronze medal for Switzerland in the parallel giant slalom — the first snowboard decision in Olympic history, the Swiss Ski Federation said.
Ueli Kestenholz of Switzerland passes a gate during qualifying for the ISF (International Snowboarding Federation) Men’s Duel Slalom World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy January 28, 1999. (Reuters)
The Swiss racer competed at two more Winter Games, became a two-time snowboard cross champion at the X-Games and continued a professional career in extreme sports.
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The ski association said Kestenholz should be remembered not only for his love of snowboarding, but for being “a true crossover athlete.”
“After he retired from competitive sports in 2006, he remained a professional outdoor athlete – until his last breath,” the federation said, noting that Kestenholz was a freerider, speed rider, paraglider pilot, kitesurfer, skydiver, surfer, wingfoiler and mountain biker.
Switzerland’s Ueli Kestenholz, right, is embraced by a teammate after taking the bronze medal in the debut of Olympic giant slalom snowboarding in Shiga Kogen, Japan, February 8, 1998. Kestenholz came from tenth in the first race to claim third position. Canada’s Ross Regabliati took gold. (Reuters)
The Olympic medalist’s Instagram account featured several photos of the athlete participating in outdoor extreme sports.
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“To enjoy the rare moments when the wonders of nature align, you must be ready to drop everything and go!” he wrote in a post of a video showing him paragliding and landing on frozen lakes near St. Moritz.
