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Ski cross team dedicates crystal globe to Nik Zoricic

'Zoro' killed on March 10 after finish line crash in Switzerland
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The Canadian ski cross team's season ended with a candlelight vigil and a tearful dedication last week, following the passing of teammate Nik "Zoro" Zoricic at a World Cup race at Grindelwald, Switzerland on March 10.

Zoricic, 29, had come over the final jump into the finish area on Saturday when he lost control and crashed into the poles and safety netting to the side of the finish gate, sustaining a head injury. He was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Interlaken where he was pronounced dead.

Races on Saturday and Sunday, the last of the season, were cancelled. The rest of the national team was taken back up the mountain by their coaches that night to hold a candlelight vigil for their fallen teammate.

Zoricic's family released this statement to the media on Monday:

"Nik's dream was to make the national team and he did that," said his father Predrag Bebe Zoricic, a well-known ski coach based in Ontario. "His other dream was to make the Olympics. Like every athlete he had his ups and downs but he was on his way up when this happened. He was really enjoying this year. He was really happy.

"The ski community is very tight and I have received many phone calls and messages. We are very grateful for the support we have received and would like to say thank you for that. I didn't know we had so many friends.

"Nik was my inspiration. He gave me the energy to be a ski coach and support other athletes."

Zoricic is survived by both parents, Predrag and Silvia, and sister Katrina, 25. The details for the funeral have not been announced, but it's expected that services will take place in Ontario. A memorial has already been planned at the Craigleith Ski Club where Predrag coaches and Nik grew up skiing.

Alpine Canada president and CEO Max Gartner suggested that it was likely a freak accident given the amount of safety gear and procedures put in place by the International Ski Federation (FIS).

He expects FIS to conduct a full investigation into the incident but until he knows more, he said the team's focus was on Zoricic's family, athletes and coaches with the team and grieving the fallen skier.

"We look at our athletes as members of our family. It's hard," said Gartner during a Saturday press conference, his voice breaking with emotion.

Gartner said he has known Zoricic since he was boy.

"I had the fortune to have known Nik quite well from his Alpine days. His family is very involved in skiing, his dad is a famous ski coach at Craigleith that has worked with a lot of great skiers," said Gartner. "Nik was a model athlete. He was an extremely dedicated young man who went about his business and found a home in ski cross, and has had some podium results. I can only say that it was a pleasure to work with him and know him."

Olympic champion Ashleigh McIvor also spoke to the media, her own voice rough. She has known Zoricic since she was 13 and they both qualified to suit up for Canada at an international juvenile ski race.

"What a lot of people don't know about our sport is that the men and women travel together and we're on the road together, and those guys are like my brothers and the girls are like my sisters. Obviously this is just absolutely horrible," she said.

As some in the media questioned the safety of the sport, McIvor defended FIS and the precautions taken before races.

"The fact is that there are risks associated with sport and pretty much everything I do in life. I have lost a lot of friends in the mountains, like my friends from cities have lost friends to car accidents and other things. We're probably just as safe in our sport as driving down the highway, and FIS really does every single event (safely). They overdo it to make the course safer... they do their absolute best to make it safe to the point where athletes say 'what, that was going to be fun.'

"I don't think fingers should be pointed. The fact is we do these sports because we love them. There are risks associated with them, and they do what they can to minimize them but there's only so much you can do."

Chris Kent, a provincial ski cross coach and the Olympic commentator for the sport, said that Zoricic was a "great sportsman, inspiring all who knew him young and old."

Kent has reviewed the video to try and understand the accident, and believes that there will be changes to the sport as a result. One suggestion was to move the finish line and all the fencing, hay bales and bags back from the final jump.

"It will surely result in some protocol to prevent a similar incident in the future," he said.

"Zoricic will be remembered as a hard working athlete who wouldn't give up on his dreams and managed a couple of hard-earned podiums on the World Cup circuit. Obviously he believed in the sport of ski cross, as do I, and the protocol that results from this tragedy will go a long way to make the sport safer for future competitors."

Zoricic's teammates have also expressed their shock and sadness in a variety of ways. Whistler's Stan Rey posted on Facebook: "RIP Nik, you will be in our hearts forever and greatly missed. Thoughts out to family, loved ones and friends. We have truly lost not only a great friend but a great human being. You will be missed forever."

It was a horrific ending to an otherwise incredible and unexpected season where the team finished with the FIS Crystal Globe signifying the season's title. Because the organizers counted the points from the qualifiers in Switzerland, Whistler's Marielle Thompson also won the women's overall individual Crystal Globe — the first won by any Canadian athlete. Brady Leman was a close second in the men's rankings.

All told, five different men — including Zoricic — and one female racer stood on the podium this season.

It should also be noted that the team won the overall despite the injuries to Olympic champion Ashleigh McIvor, world champion Kelsey Serwa and Julia Murray, second in the world championships, and with injuries to members of the men's team as well.

"This is not the best way to have a trophy presented to you but tonight at dinner we will pull out the Globe and have a toast for Nik," said Dave Ellis, the director of sport for the national ski cross team. "We've been in constant contact with (Nik's) father, a very strong man. He said to make sure we celebrate and carry on the tradition of winning and podiums for Nik, as we always have."

Nik was born in Sarajevo and arrived in Toronto at the age of five as his family fled the breakup of the former nation of Yugoslavia.

The death of Zoricic follows the loss of Sarah Burke in Utah during a superpipe event in January. Both ski cross and halfpipe are technically considered freestyle disciplines under FIS, but in Canada ski cross is considered a race sport and managed under Alpine Canada. As well, both are new to the Olympics — ski cross debuted in 2010 and ski halfpipe will debut in 2014.

There had been no recorded deaths in the sport of ski cross since it became a World Cup discipline but there have been two deaths in snowboardcross in the past decade.

– With files from John French

Ashleigh McIvor

"Nik always had a very reasonable, rational outlook and he wasn't afraid to voice his (valuable) opinions, or go that extra mile to prove a point. He's had a huge impact on my life through the many heart-to-hearts I've had the privilege of sharing with him over the years. We all have an immense level of respect for Nik as a person, friend and athlete.

"I got to catch up with Nik for the last time at our Blue Mountain World Cup. I'm so glad I went out there for the event because I had such a good visit with him. He really was one of my favourite people in the whole world and I will miss his friendship forever.

"In the end of my interview when I talked about how ridiculous Nik would have thought it was to see 25,000 people taking a moment of silence in his honour, I meant that's just the kind of guy he was. He would do anything for any of us but he never expected anything from any of us... He'd be telling us to cheer up, deal with it, move on — that's just the way it is.

"Easier said than done."

"As far as anecdotes go, hopefully somebody will talk about his World Cup race in jeans."

Julia Murray

"Whenever I think of memories I have of Nik I start laughing, then can't help but cry. He was an honest, classy, hilarious individual that truly made the most out of his life. The ladies loved him. He was always up for anything, and whenever he was around there were laughs guaranteed. He had a great sense of humour and a belly full of fire.

"He was always excited to explore the world and take advantage of all the great places we got to see through our profession. He loved what he did, and was incredibly passionate about it.

"I just hope where he is now that the beer is flowing, the snow is falling and that he is surrounded by all the other amazing athletes we have lost in the past year."

Marielle Thompson

"Nik was hilarious. He was always truthful and said what was on his mind, no matter the consequences. He always managed to put a smile on my face and I learned a lot from him in skiing and life."

Dave Duncan

"Nik was the guy you wanted to have as a friend. He was there to lend an ear, have a beer or play a round of golf with.

"The thing I'll miss most about Nik is our conversations. We were the foremost experts on everything discussed and solved the team, Canada and the world's issues many times over. Nik wasn't your typical athlete, he used his travels from around the globe to understand the world and have an opinion. An opinion he wasn't afraid to voice."