Great Britain: Young snowboarder Ellie Soutter dies at the age of 18

She was considered Britain's great snowboard fan and favorite of one of the coveted Olympic Winter Games Tickets in Beijing in 2022. But Wednesday, Ellie Soutter died surprisingly for his 18th birthday. This was announced by the British umbrella badociation for skiing and snowboarding Thursday. The reason for their sudden death is still speculated.

Soutter was an expert in freeride and boardercross and won the bronze medal for the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival of Great Britain in Turkey. Most recently, she was named to the UK team of snowboard cross of the European Cup. Next week she should compete for the British Junior World Championship in New Zealand

"Rest in peace, little champion!"

On Thursday, her father Tony Soutter, with whom she lived in the French Alps, wrote on Facebook: "This cruel world took away my soulmate and my best friend, I was so proud of this wonderful young woman that she had turned into, Elli, I'll miss you more than you could imagine In peace, your little champion! "

In a joint statement, Hugh Robertson, President of the British Olympic Committee (BOA), and Ben Hawes, chairman of the BOA Athletes Committee, cried, "Ellie was an incredibly popular member of the team." Fans, teammates and friends condole in social media. "It's so sad to hear the death of this little ball of energy, you were a wonderful girl with an incredible desire for life," wrote a teammate on Instagram. "You made me laugh every day."

Death is not yet known

The cause of the death of Soutter has not yet been announced. But there are already some first badumptions, especially in social media. Under the news of his death on the website of the umbrella organization is the phone number of "Samaritans", a British crisis phone, which particularly cares about people with suicidal thoughts.

Your thoughts on suicide? Here you will find offers of help – also anonymous – by email, chat, phone or in direct conversation.

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