Matilde Lorenzi: Italian teenage champion skier dies after crash

Teenage Alpine skiing champion Matilde Lorenzi has died after a crash during a training session in Italy.

Lorenzi, 19, fell while skiing on a slope in Val Senales, northern Italy, the country’s defence ministry said.

Lorenzi was an Italian junior champion last season and her older sister Lucrezia is also a competitive skier, according to the official Olympics website.

Tributes poured in following her death, including a host of messages from Olympic ski stars.

Former US Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn described Lorenzi’s death as “a tragic loss” and said she was “sending [her] thoughts to her family”.

US Olympian Mikaela Shiffrin added: “So much love to her family, friends, and team-mates.”

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) said it extended its “deepest condolences following the tragic loss of Matilde Lorenzi”.

“FIS is in mourning, standing by her family, friends, and everyone who cherished Matilde, honouring her memory today and always,” it added.

Lorenzi, who was attached to the Italian army, competed at the junior world championships last season, finishing sixth in the downhill contest and eighth in the super-G event.

She also raced on the second-tier European Cup circuit.

The crash comes months after World Cup skier Jean Daniel Pession and his girlfriend, Elisa Arlian, tragically died after falling more than 2,000 feet off a mountain in Italy.