The 2010 Olympic ski cross medalist Audun Grønvold has died after being struck by lightning, the Norwegian ski federation announced on Wednesday. He was 49.
Grønvold won bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
“It is with great sadness that we have received the news of Audun Grønvold’s untimely passing,” the federation said. “The former national alpine skier and ski cross athlete was recently struck by lightning during a cabin trip.”
The federation said Grønvold was “quickly taken to hospital and received treatment for the injuries he sustained in the lightning strike” but died on Tuesday night.
Grønvold was a member of Norway’s alpine skiing team before he moved into freestyle and ski cross. He had one podium finish as a World Cup alpine skier, finishing third in a downhill in Sierra Nevada, Spain, in 1999.
He also won a bronze medal in ski cross at the 2005 world championships, and the overall ski cross cup in 2007. After his career ended, he became a national-team coach and a TV commentator.
“Norwegian skiing has lost a prominent figure, who has meant so much to both the Alpine and freestyle communities,” the federation president, Tove Moe Dyrhaug, said, adding that his death created “a huge void”.
Grønvold his survived by his wife and three children. His wife, Kristin Tandberg Haugsjå, said in a Facebook post that her husband was “my great love and my best friend for 20 years”. She added the accident had happened while they were on their summer vacation.