Rock Climbing 'Prodigy,' 16, Killed in Cliff Fall

Luce Douady was seen as a "climbing prodigy" and one of the "brightest young talents" in rock climbing, per AFP. But the French 16-year-old Olympic hopeful is dead after falling from a cliff in southeastern France on Sunday, the BBC reports. She reportedly slipped and fell from the approach path on her way to an unexplored sector of the cliff near Grenoble; AFP says the "tricky" path between two climbing areas has a handrail. The French Mountain Climbing Federation expressed the "immense sadness of the climbing community" in a statement, while the International Federation of Sport Climbing, the sport's governing body, called her a "young, brilliant and talented athlete." She was the reigning world junior champion and had achieved many other accomplishments in the climbing world. (More rock climbing stories.)