Died in a mountain accident Father of fatal accident victim Laura Dahlmeier: "She is buried where she was happy"
Former biathlete Laura Dahlmeier's fatal accident caused great shock. Now her father describes what he thinks about the failed rescue.
17.12.2025, 13:00
17.12.2025, 13:27
dpa
The father of former German biathlete Laura Dahlmeier, who died in a mountain accident, can now take some comfort from the failed recovery of her body.
"I think Laura would have wanted to find peace in the mountains," Andreas Dahlmeier told Sport Bild."Laura is buried where she was happy and felt free."
The two-time Olympic biathlon champion and seven-time world champion died in July at the age of 31 in a climbing accident on Laila Peak in Pakistan. The trained mountain guide was probably killed instantly after being hit on the head by a falling rock.
Despite an extensive rescue operation and a second search, which included the Bavarian extreme climber Thomas Huber, her body could not be recovered. She was presumably buried under fallen rocks.
Hearty mountaineering greeting at the funeral service
"Maybe she wanted it that way," Andreas Dahlmeier told "Sport Bild" almost five months after the accident. "I imagine if Laura was lying in a grave in a cemetery and people came by all day long - she would look up and think: My goodness, someone's here again. Leave me alone for once!"
According to Dahlmeier, his daughter had specified exactly what her funeral service should look like during her lifetime. "She said that only those she liked should come. Those she didn't like shouldn't come. She was straightforward about that too."
Laura also chose the music herself. At the celebration in August, a modified version of the Oberreintal song was sung with guitar and accordion accompaniment. The hearty line in the chorus "Hei mi leckst am Arsch!" is a common exclamation of relief among mountaineers when a difficult passage has been mastered or a summit climbed.
