STA, 24 November 2021 - Marko Grilc, one of the most accomplished Slovenian snowboarders, has been killed in a snowboarding accident in the Austrian ski resort of Sölden. Media reports say he was part of a film crew inspecting a site for filming as fell and hit his head on a snow-covered rock in a closed section of the resort.
While the Austrian police reported on Tuesday only that a Slovenian snowboarder was killed near Sölden, the 24ur web portal of the Slovenian commercial broadcaster POP TV said it was Grilc.
According to the Austrian press agency APA, the snowboarder fell while descending a slope in deep snow as the film crew was preparing to shoot a scene, suffering a fatal head injury.
The police said that the 38-year-old from Ljubljana was not wearing a helmet. He lost his balance and hit a snow-covered rock either with his face or his head.
The accompanying crew tried to resuscitate him, but the first responding medical team could only determine death as they arrived at the scene, the APA said on Tuesday.
According to 24ur.com, the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung reported that the unfortunate snowboarder and the film crew were on tour skiing in Sölden to inspect the terrain for the shoot.
Grilc is considered one of the most accomplished Slovenian freestyle snowboarders. He has four podium finishes in the World Cup, with the sole victory coming in London in 2010 in acrobatic jumps.
In recent years, he shot snowboarding videos and promoted the sport among the youth, while also advertising several commercial brands, 24ur says.
Grilc got injured in 2016 while snowboarding in Austria. He was taken to hospital in Schladming by helicopter after suffering a back injury. He said at the time that "he was snowboarding with angels."
He has been survived by his wife Nina, who is pregnant with their third child, and two small children, the N1 web portal said.
