An accident during practice left an Italian teenager dead. In a post to X on Tuesday, the Italian Ministry of Defense announced that Matilde Lorenzi, “a promising Italian skier,” had “tragically passed away following a very serious accident that occurred during a training session.” She was 19.
In a statement, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation revealed that Lorenzi “was tragically lost following a fall during a training session on the Grawand G1 slope in Val Senales.”
Olympics.com reported that, after the crash, Lorenzi was attended to immediately. She was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Bolzano, where she later died.
“FIS joins FISI President Flavio Roda and the entire Italian winter sports community in mourning, including coaches, athletes, teammates, the federal council, and all FISI staff,” the FIS statement read. “FISI is in mourning, standing by her family, friends, and everyone who cherished Matilde, honoring her memory today and always.”
Lorenzi, an athlete of the Italian Army, was the Italian junior champion last season in the overall standings and super-G. She also competed in last year’s Junior World Alpine Ski Championships, finishing sixth in downhill and eighth in super-G.
Lorenzi followed in the skiing footsteps of her older sister, Lucrezia Lorenzi. Following her younger sister’s death, the elder Lorenzi posted about the tragedy on her Instagram Story.
“It is with immense pain that I announce that our Mati has left us,” she wrote, before inviting mourners to pray the rosary in her sister’s honor.
American skiers Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin also remembered the late athlete. The former called Lorenzi’s death “a tragic loss,” while the latter offered “so much love to her family, friends, and teammates.”
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