Luce Douady dead at 16: Olympic hopeful climber killed after falling 150m from cliff in French Alps
WORLD champion climber Luce Douady has died aged 16 in a fall from a 500ft cliff in the French Alps.
The teenage prodigy - a hopeful at next year's Olympics - reportedly slipped while exploring the mountains with friends in Le Luisset near the South-Eastern city of Grenoble on Sunday.
"It is with immense sadness that the climbing community learned this Sunday of the death of one of their own," the French Mountain Climbing Federation (FFME) said.
"Luce was a very promising young athlete from the French climbing team. At only 16, the future was before her. Today, the whole federation is in mourning."
Douady slipped and fell 150 metres while crossing between two climbing areas, the federation added.
She was the reigning junior world champion in bouldering, a climbing discipline that will be part of next year's delayed Tokyo Olympics.
She had already made the step up to senior competition at the age of just 15, finishing fifth on her debut at the Bouldering World Cup in Colorado last year.
I will remember her with incredible energy and motivation, clearly nothing could stop her, she was an example to follow despite her young age.
Julia Chanourdie
The International Federation of Sport Climbing described her as a "brilliant and talented athlete".
And her club Chambery Escalade said it was mourning the loss of "a young woman full of energy, passions and talents" who was a "beautiful person".
Douady was one of climbing's most gifted up-and-comers, having started alongside her father at an early age.
Fellow French climber Julia Chanourdie paid tribute after hearing the tragic news.
She wrote: "Petite Luce. Tragic news when I woke up this morning.
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"I knew Luce through the competitions that we shared together.
"I will remember her with incredible energy and motivation.
"Clearly nothing could stop her, she was an example to follow despite her young age. It’s unfair.”
