Double Olympic gold medalist dies aged 31 in tragic mountaineering accident

German biathlon champion Laura Dahlmeier has died on a mountain in Pakistan after being involved in a climbing accident, a local government spokesman has confirmed.

The Olympic gold medallist was ascending Laila Peak in the Karakoram mountain range on Monday (28 July) when she was struck by falling rocks while climbing with a partner, who went on to survive the ordeal.

Rescuers were able to confirm Dahlmeier’s death on Wednesday (July 30) but could not retrieve the body because of unfavourable weather, said Faizullah Faraq, a spokesman for the regional Gilgit-Baltistan government.

Any final decision on retrieving the body will follow the wishes of Dahlmeier’s family, Faraq said.

A statement on her Instagram page said it had been her wish that nobody risk their life to recover her body after an accident.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier offered his condolences to Dahlmeier’s parents, writing that she 'was an exceptional sportswoman' and recalling that he presented her with the highest honour in German sport, the Silver Laurel Leaf, shortly after she won her first Olympic gold medal in 2018.

Laura Dahlmeier has died at the of 31 (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

“Laura Dahlmeier was an ambassador for our country in the world, a role model for peaceful, cheerful and fair co-existence across borders,” he said.

Authorities launched the rescue mission on Monday after receiving a distress signal from Dahlmeier’s climbing partner Marina Eva, who managed to descend to base camp with help from rescuers on Tuesday.

Eva had tried for several hours to rescue her, but that was not possible because of the difficult terrain and persistent rockfall, the statement on Dahlmeier’s Instagram page said.

“Her partner, who could no longer hear any signs of life, eventually decided to leave the danger zone and resume her descent,” according to the statement.

It was Dahlmeier’s wish 'that in a case like this, no one should risk their life to recover her', the statement said, calling for that wish to be respected.

It said her family thanked the rescue team and climbers, who did their best to make her rescue possible.

Bodies of foreign climbers who die attempting to scale mountains in Pakistan are typically recovered at the request of their families, but if the family declines a rescue, the remains are left at the spot where they died.

Dahlmeier was a biathlon superstar and won two gold medals in her career (Kevin Voigt/Getty Images)

Dahlmeier was injured at an altitude of about 5,700 metres at around noon on Monday, according to her management team in Germany.

She had been in the region with friends since the end of June. The 6,069-metre Laila Peak was the second peak on her tour after she climbed the 6,287-metre Great Trango Tower on July 8.

Military helicopters were on standby to assist in any rescue but have been unable to deploy because of bad weather, Faraq said. Climbers including two Americans have been attempting the same ascent done by Dahlmeier to try to join the rescue operation, he said.

Dahlmeier won seven gold, three silver and five bronze medals at the Biathlon World Championships, along with 20 World Cup races and the overall World Cup in the 2016-17 season, according to her website.

She won gold medals in the sprint and pursuit races at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018 and the bronze medal in the individual competition.

She grew up in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the German Alps and turned to mountaineering challenges after ending her biathlon career in 2019, when she was 25. She had been a state-certified mountain and ski guide since 2023 and volunteered for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen mountain rescue team.

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