In 2015 Swiss snowboarder Sophie Hediger competed at the European Youth Olympic Festival where she won bronze in the snowboard cross team event. A year later Hediger won bronze in the same event at the World Junior Championships, earning herself a place at the Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer. She continued her good form to win two silver medals at the Games, with an individual medal in the girls’ cross event and a team silver in the mixed relay. Two years later she won another bronze at the World Junior Championships, this time in the individual snowboard cross. Hediger eventually qualified for the 2022 Beijing Olympics where she competed in the team cross and the individual cross, finishing 7th and 17th, respectively. In 2023 she had the best result of her career with gold at the Winter Universiade in Lake Placid. Tragically Hediger had only just celebrated her 26th birthday when she was killed in an avalanche in the tourist resort of Arosa.
Switzerland