Paul-Henri Delerue of France (from left), his brother, Xavier Delerue of France, Ueli Kestenholz of Switzerland and Nate Holland of the USA on the podium after the Men's Snowboard Cross in the Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup on March 6, 2005 at Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, New York. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Ezra Shaw
Swiss snowboarder and Olympic medallist Ueli Kestenholz, 50, has died after being buried in an avalanche on Sunday (local time) in the Loetschental region of Canton Valais, the Swiss skiing federation Swiss-Ski said on Tuesday.
Kestenholz won a bronze medal in snowboarding's inaugural Olympic event, the giant slalom at Nagano in 1998.
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.
-Reuters