French skiing champion Adèle Milloz dies while mountain climbing in French Alps

French ski mountaineering champion Adèle Milloz and a companion died Friday while climbing in the Mont-Blanc mountain range in the French Alps, the French Mountain and Climbing Federation announced. She was 26.

Milloz and an unidentified female died during mountaineering practice on the Aiguille du Peigne, the federation said. The circumstances surrounding their deaths were not immediately clear.

Milloz had a decorated career as a skier, becoming junior world champion in sprint and winning gold in the same category at the Winter Military World Games in Sochi in 2017, according to the federation. She retired from ski mountaineering in 2019 and began training to become a professional mountain guide, the federation said.

The French Mountain and Climbing Federation said that it met the news of Milloz's death with "great sadness" and that it "will always miss her smile."

French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra tweeted that she was "Deeply saddened by the death of ski mountaineering champion Adèle Milloz in Mont-Blanc, at the age of 26, and of the woman who was by her side."

"I extend my deepest condolences to her family, loved ones, her colleagues from the National School of Skiing and Mountaineering in Chamonix," she added.