Former Olympic skier Grubelnik dies in car crash

SOFIA (Reuters) - Former Slovenia slalom skier Drago Grubelnik, who had been head coach of the Bulgarian team since 2013, has died in a car crash in Austria, the Bulgarian ski federation said.

(Reuters)

The 39-year-old, who competed at three consecutive Winter Olympics from 1998 died on Tuesday after the car he was driving swerved off a mountain road and rolled down a hill near the Austrian resort of Soelden.

Grubelnik, who retired from competitive skiing in 2007, reached one World Cup podium when he finished third in Wengen, Switzerland in January, 2000.

The federation added that Bulgarian skier Albert Popov and assistant coach Dimitar Hristov were hospitalised after suffering injuries in the accident.

"The Bulgarian Ski Federation expresses its sincerest condolences to the family of Drago Grubelnik and prays for the quick recovery of Dimitar Hristov and Albert Popov," the federation said in a statement.

(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by John O'Brien)