Snowboarder Julie Pumagalski dies in an avalanche in Switzerland

The French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) announced on Wednesday that French former world champion Julie Boumalski died Tuesday in Switzerland at the age of 40, the victim of an avalanche in the center of the country.

CNOSF wrote on Twitter: “The tragic disappearance of Jolie, the world champion on ice, leaves the French Olympic team in a duel for one of them.”

On Tuesday, the Swiss cantonal police announced the death of two French free travelers at the end of the morning when the Gemstoke descended, a peak of 2,961 meters that is known to fans of this specialty because of its difficult slopes. .

Police explained that “for reasons that are still unknown, an ice sheet exploded,” transporting three of the four members of a group from France. With “minor injuries”, one of the victims could be moved, while “the other two were buried completely.”

According to the Ski Chrono website, the second man killed in the avalanche was Frenchman Bruno Bottelli, a guide and ranger in the Alps, in Albertville.

Julie Pumagalski, born near Grenoble and settled in Meribel, was the 1999 World Figure Skating Champion in Berchtesgaden (Germany), and also won the World Cup in 2004, with nine World Cup wins.

A practitioner of various disciplines such as Parallel Slalom, Parallel Giant and Wooden Crossing, he participated in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and the 2006 Turin Games, where he was ranked 23rd in my occasional and sixth in Parallel Giant.