Pro Downhiller Dies After Crash At Big Bear

BIG BEAR LAKE, CA (BRAIN)--Professional downhill racer Haruko Fujinaka died in a crash Saturday morning while practicing for the season's first NORBA National Mountain Bike Race at Snow Summit Mountain Resort.

According to the Associated Press (AP), Fujinaka, 33, appeared to clear a jump but lost control in the air and fell to the ground around. Fire Department Captain Richard Flint said she was breathing and had a pulse when he reached her minutes later. "But when I arrived, she was unconscious and not responsive to any stimuli," Flint told the AP.

A native of Kyoto, Japan, Fujinaka was taken to a hospital, and then transported by helicopter to Loma Linda University Medical Center in Riverside County where doctors pronounced her dead at 11:51 a.m. An autopsy to determine cause of death will be performed this week.

This was Snow Summit's first death during a NORBA National event, but not the first for U.S. downhill racing. Professional downhiller Jake Watson died in March 1999 while attempting to jump a "rock garden" during practice for the Keyesville Classic mountain bike race. The cause of death was ruled blunt-force trauma.