Pavel Krotow achieved his greatest success at the 2021 World Cup in Idre, Sweden
What: Getty Images/David Ramos
Skiing mourns Pawel Krotow. The ski world champion died unexpectedly at the age of 30. His head coach talks about the dramatic details of the night of death. Any help came too late for Krotow.
Dhe freestyle skier and world champion Pavel Krotov died unexpectedly on the night of March 24th. He was only 30 years old. Alexander Pongilsky, head coach of the Russian national team, told the Ria Novosti news agency that Krotov succumbed to the consequences of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage: “At night, while he was sleeping, a brain vessel burst.” After that, any help for him came too late.
The Russian Freestyle Federation mourns in a public statement: “Many people remember Pavel as a friendly, personable and courageous person. We express our deep and sincere condolences to the family, relatives and colleagues of Pavel Krotov.”
For years Krotov was one of the best freestyle skiers in Russia. His specialty was the aerials (German: jumping), where the athletes show two artificial jumps with combinations of somersaults, turns and slide tackles per competition. The jumps each have a set level of difficulty. At the Russian championships, he took the title once (2011) and three second places (2015, 2016 and 2020).
Krotow achieved his greatest success at the 2021 World Championships. In Idre, Sweden, he became team world champion with Lyubov Nikitina (24) and Maxim Burow (24) and also won individual bronze behind Burow and Christopher Lillis (24/USA).
Krotov made his debut in the World Cup in January 2011, where he made it onto the podium six times in 46 competitions – twice as a winner (2012 in Mont Gabriel/Canada and 2020 in Moscow/Russia) and four times as second. In 2019/2020 he even took second place in the overall Aerials World Cup. In addition, Krotow twice took part in the Winter Olympics. In 2014 in Sochi he finished tenth, in 2018 in Pyeongchang he came fourth and just barely missed a medal.