“Many people remember Pavel as a kind, sympathetic and courageous person. The team of the Russian Freestyle Federation offers its deep and sincere condolences to the family, relatives and colleagues of Pavel Krotov.
The tragedy is known to have occurred on March 25, but details of the death were not specified.
The President of the Russian Freestyle Federation, Alexei Kurashov, spoke about the death of a freestyle athlete.
“While there is no information, there is no conclusion from the doctors either. Sad. A young man, still alive and living, performing, working. But such a situation happened, ”Kurashov told socialbites.ca.
The colleague of the deceased athlete in the Russian national team, Sergei Ridzik, told socialbites.ca that an autopsy would be carried out on March 26.
“I don’t know yet about the circumstances of death, an autopsy will be done today. Was it a harbinger of trouble? I cannot answer this question. I was not his teammate, I only saw him at training camps and competitions, ”said Ridzik.
Alexander Pongilsky, head coach of the Russian freestyle team, said Krotov died in his sleep. The expert noted that the autopsy will be held on March 27.
For me, the news of Pavel’s departure was a huge blow. The cause of death is still unknown to me, the autopsy will only be done on Monday. His relatives said that he died in his sleep that connected Friday to Saturday. In the season after the Olympics, Pavel did not compete due to a knee injury. He resolved his health problems and planned to return to sports after recovery,” he said.
– He quotes the words of Pongilsky TASS.
The athlete was born on April 24, 1992 in Yaroslavl. He started his sports career at Yaroslavl Children’s Youth Sports School No.3. Later, it received the status of a private school of the Olympic reserve.
In early January 2011, Krotov achieved his first success in his sports career, taking first place at the Russian Championship, which allowed him to join the national team, where he made his debut at the World Cup in Mont Gabriel in the same year. , Canada. At the same place but a year later he won his first gold medal at the World Cup.
In 2014, he participated in the Olympic Games, which was first held in Sochi. Then he entered the top ten, and four years later Krotov took a step away from the medal and lost the bronze medal to compatriot Ilya Burov.
On December 22, 2019, the Russian Federation team took first place in the team competition in ski acrobatics at the Freestyle World Cup held in China. The Russian team, consisting of Pavel Krotov, Lyubov Nikitina and Maxim Burov, recorded 316.66 points as a result of their performance. The Chinese team took second place with 312.12 points. The second team from China entered the top three with 286.86 points.
The most successful year in the athlete’s career was 2021, when he won bronze in aerobatics at the World Championships in Kazakhstan and gold in team competitions.
Krotov’s career did not pass without serious injuries. In November 2012, Pavel suffered a serious injury: an ankle fracture briefly immobilized him, but in December the freestyle athlete resumed training. In April 2013, Pavel had knee surgery.