By the
CNN Wire Staff
Updated 2:30 PM EST, Sat March 10, 2012
Canada's Nick Zoricic competing in a World Cup event earlier this year. He has died after a crash in a race in Switzerland.
Canadian skier Nik Zoricic died of head injuries sustained from a crash while racing Saturday at a World Cup Ski Cross event in Grindelwald, Switzerland. The 29-year-old Toronto resident died as a result of "severe neurotrauma," despite being hospitalized shortly after the crash, according to a statement from the International Ski Federation.
Zoricic fell just before the finish in the competition's eighth round, slamming into the course's safety netting, the statement said.
"Nik was a very talented young ski racer and a great athlete who was much loved by his teammates and fellow competitors," Alpine Canada president Max Gartner said. "He will be greatly missed by all of us and the ski community as a whole."
Zoricic began as an alpine racer but later switched to ski cross, a type of timed racing that includes skiing over a variety of terrain which is thought to test both a skier's freestyle and alpine skills.
U.S. racer Ted Ligety tweeted Saturday that "skiing is a great sport that gives but it also takes." "Sad day to lose Nick Zorici, you'll be missed bud," he wrote.
The incident prompted race organizers to cancel the entire event, including the World Cup Final scheduled for Sunday.
Zoricic's death on Saturday comes in the wake of the death of another 29 year-old Canadian skier, who died following a brutal crash during a training run in Park City, Utah.
Sarah Burke, an X Games freestyler and Olympic hopeful, died after a fall on January 10.