3-time Olympic skier Drago Grubelnik dies in car crash in Austria

Three-time Olympic slalom skier Drago Grubelnik has died in a car crash.

Vienna: The Slovenian ski federation says three-time Olympic slalom skier Drago Grubelnik has died after the car he was driving swerved off a mountain road and rolled down a hill in the Austrian resort of Soelden.

The federation says it "has lost an exceptional performer" in the 39-year-old Grubelnik, who was at "the slalom top at the beginning of this millennium."

Austrian media report Grubelnik died yesterday in a hospital in Murnau, Germany, shortly after the incident. Two passengers in the car were hospitalised with unknown injuries.

Grubelnik took part in three Olympic slaloms from 1998-2006, with 13th in 2006 his best result. He reached one World Cup podium, in 2000, and retired seven years later.

He had been head coach of the Bulgaria ski team since 2013.