Ex-Biathletin
Laura Dahlmeier’s father speaks publicly for the first time about his daughter’s death
The death of Laura Dahlmeier moved an entire nation in 2025. Months later, her father comments on the risk his daughter voluntarily exposed herself to.
Almost five months after Laura Dahlmeier’s death, the sympathy remains unbroken. This is what her father, Andreas Dahlmeier, says, according to a media report. According to this, visitors still regularly make a pilgrimage to Laura Dahlmeier’s memorial in the spa gardens of Partenkirchen to say goodbye to the athlete. “When I go there, I’m never alone. The sympathy is still huge,” he tells “Sport Bild”.
Laura Dahlmeier had a fatal accident due to a rockfall on July 28, 2025, at the age of 31, during a mountaineering tour on the 6,096 meter high Laila Peak in the Karakoram Mountains in Pakistan. “Laura should have died immediately,” says her father. He himself has been working in mountain rescue in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for 40 years and influenced the passion of his daughter, whom he took with him to the mountains when she was just three years old.
Laura Dahlmeier won seven world championship titles and two Olympic gold medals in biathlon. At just 25 years old, she had achieved everything in her sport. In 2019 she gave up competitive sports and devoted herself to her great passions, mountaineering and the environment. The ex-biathlete was a state-certified mountain and ski guide and an active member of the mountain rescue service. She was considered an experienced and risk-conscious alpinist. One reason why there was so much consternation and sadness after her death.
Laura Dahlmeier was prepared for her death during her lifetime
Dahlmeier’s father has now found a more sober approach. The risk increases with every mountain tour, he explains to “Bild”. “I always had to expect the call that something had happened.” His daughter was very careful, but “as a mountaineer you need luck.” Dahlmeier describes his experiences to the newspaper that he has also “jumped away from death a few times.”
His daughter was prepared for this. While she was still alive, she decided what her funeral service should be like. This was held on August 11th behind closed doors in the St. Anton pilgrimage church in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with 200 invited guests. Laura Dahlmeier wanted “only those she liked to come,” says her father. “She was straightforward there too.” The same was true for music. At the ex-biathlete’s request, a modified version of the Oberreintal song was recorded. The refrain is “Hei mi suck your ass!” and is considered a classic greeting or exclamation of relief among mountaineers when they have climbed a mountain peak.
Her father is pragmatic about the fact that Laura Dahlmeier will never be buried in her homeland. Father Dahlmeier is convinced that she would not have been enthusiastic about a grave that was constantly visited by mourners. It is true that her body remained in the mountains. “Laura is buried where she was happy and felt free. (…) I think Laura would have wanted to find peace in the mountains.”
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