A Japanese triathlete training for the 2024 Olympics in Paris has died after a fall in training, Orléans Mayor Emmanuel Bochenek-Boren said.

Prosecutors were reluctant to confirm the athlete’s identity, but the Lausanne-based International Triathlon Federation said the athlete who died was Tsudoe Miyazaki, who had been training in France after participating in the World Cup competition in Spain.

According to the prosecution, the 25-year-old victim was cycling with other riders from the Japanese team when she “suddenly fell and turned in the opposite direction” at the moment when another car passed.

He added that the young woman died despite the intervention of rescuers.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the case of manslaughter entrusted to the National Gendarmerie to clarify the circumstances of the accident.

The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that “the first investigation carried out against the driver of the car in question, a German living in France, was negative”, noting that an autopsy was requested.

The mayor of Saint-Cry-en-Val told AFP he was sorry for the “tragic traffic accident”.

“This is a triathlete from the Japanese team who trains in Sologne. She could compete in the Paris Olympics,” said an elected representative of a small town on the outskirts of Orléans.

The technical director of the Japanese team, Hideo Fukui, has been in Sologne in the Loire since 2019 to prepare for the Olympic Games in Paris. His task is to analyze training methods in France and prepare for the reception of Japanese triathletes participating in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.