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U.S. ski team mourns lost teammates

REUTERS/Antonio Bronic

The Americans skied with heavy hearts Tuesday. 

David Chodounsky finished third in the opening leg of a World Cup race in Croatia on Tuesday and pointed to his helmet after he crossed the finish line, to a piece of tape that read, "Remember BA + RB." 

Bryce Astle and Ronnie Berlack, junior members of the U.S. team, were killed Monday in an avalanche in Austria, in the mountains over Soelden, where the U.S. team trains in Europe. Astle was 19, and Berlack 20. 

"The entire U.S. ski team is mourning for them," said Chodounsky. "We're just skiing for them (Tuesday). They were great guys.

"It's terrible. U.S. skiing is a tight family, there is not many of us. They were great skiers, young but they were coming up," he added. "There is no doubt in my mind that one day they had made the World Cup. The entire team is skiing for them." 

The Americans wore black armbands Tuesday, in addition to Chodounsky's personal tribute to his fallen teammates, and the American flag flew at half mast in the finish area. 

The Associated Press has more comments from U.S. Olympic champion Ted Ligety:

What happened yesterday was for sure a bummer. We are all racers. But to know you've lost a couple of your teammates is super saddening, for sure.

Will Brandenburg, who mentored the two young men, said:

Bryce always had a way of going for it and that is something I love because I see it in my skiing, too. I was just going to go for it, that's all I wanted to do, I wanted to fight and that's what I did.

Those two kids were amazing people. I mean, great skiers but truly amazing people. And I got a great opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with them and help them throughout the summer with travel and training.

I was broken last night. It was really difficult to sleep. But I was able to put that behind me and ski the turns I wanted to ski and execute how I wanted to execute.

U.S. head coach Sascha Rearick said:

The emotions are coming and going in cycles. But the support we are getting from the whole family of ski racing has been very nice to have. We really appreciate that. The support from different federations, different skiers, they have been coming in from New Zealand to Canada to America to Switzerland, everywhere.

Ronnie was a cheery individual who was so proud to be part of the team, and always did everything to help the team in any way he could. Bryce had a tremendous smile, a joy of life. I will never have a shorter 10-hour drive to California than the time I drove with him.

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