Muriel Furrer
Muriel Furrer was a Swiss mountain biker, road cyclist, and cyclo crosser. She won a bronze medal in the mixed relay at the 2024 European Mountain Bike Championships. In road cycling, she was the runner-up at the national junior championships in both the time trial and road race events.
She died from severe skull and brain injuries sustained in a crash during the 2024 UCI Road World Championships on 27 September 2024, at the age of 18. Furrer had been lying unnoticed for some time in the woods next to the road where she had crashed.
Muriel Furrer's crash was not witnessed by anybody. At 11:09, the first cyclists passed the Sechseläutenplatz for the first time; Furrer's split time was not recorded. At 11:54, the race ended with Cat Ferguson as the winner. As Furrer's missing status was still presumably unknown to the organizers, at 12:15 the men's paracycling race was started as scheduled, on the route that passed by the crash site. Furrer was found after her own fatal race had ended by security personnel who went searching for her. At 12:45, TV images of the paracycling race showed several police cars and an ambulance near the site.
The UCI had originally released a statement saying that all World Championships races may be cancelled. The event was continued at the express request of Muriel Furrer's parents and family, with a series of tributes and memorials.