On July 28, two-time Olympic biathlon champion Laura Dahlmeier died in a climbing accident on Laila Peak. The German Ski Association will be offering a prize in memory of the seven-time world champion.
“We at the German Ski Association have consciously taken the time to think about how we can honor Laura in a worthy way in the future – as an extraordinary athlete, but above all as a special person,” explained DSV board member Stefan Schwarzbach to the “German Press Agency”.
From next year onwards, the prize will be awarded to an outstanding young athlete in the association.
“He is deliberately open to all disciplines, not just biathlon. We of course coordinated this with Laura’s parents in advance and are very grateful that they support this idea,” said Schwarzbach.
Video: This is how the sports world mourns Laura Dahlmeier
The DSV official took the opportunity to pay tribute to Dahlmeier again.
“Although almost half a year has now passed, it is still very difficult for all of us to accept that we will no longer see Laura next winter,” Schwarzbach admitted: “Even after the end of her career, she was present at many Biathlon World Cups as a TV expert. The coming weeks will certainly be emotional for most of us because we associate many of these places very closely with memories of Laura and with shared experiences.”
Incredible successes in biathlon
On July 28, Dahlmeier’s management announced that the former top athlete had had an accident at Laila Peak in the Karakoram Mountains at an altitude of around 5,700 meters when she was surprised by falling rocks.
After two days it was said that it had to be assumed that the biathlon Olympic champion had already died on the day of the accident. Her body has not been recovered to this day.
Until her career ended in 2019, Dahlmeier had dominated the sport of biathlon. In 2018 she won Olympic gold in the sprint and pursuit in Pyeongchang, and she also won seven world titles. In 2016/2017 she secured the overall World Cup.