Kyle Smein, 31-year-old freestyle and snowboard world champion, died in an avalanche on the slopes of the Hakuba ski resort in Japan on January 29..
It is reported that the athlete was among a group of Austrian and American skiers caught in an avalanche on Mount Hakuba Norikura in Nagano Prefecture..
The three skiers were eventually able to get down the mountain, but Smein and another man were later found dead, according to local police..
" We started to run, and then we were blown away,” said one of the surviving men..
Recall that Kyle Smein won the halfpipe world title in 2015 and retired from professional sports in 2018..
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It was previously reported that the famous American racer Ken Block died in a snowmobile accident..