Slain skating star will be ‘greatly missed’

MOSCOW Olympic figure-skating medallist Denis Ten was killed Thursday and prosecutors in Kazakhstan said they were treating the case as murder.

Ten was stabbed after a dispute with people who allegedly tried to steal a mirror from his car in his home city of Almaty, Kazakh news agencies reported. Doctors in Almaty said the 25-year-old skater died in the hospital there.

Born in Kazakhstan to a family of Korean descent, Ten’s bronze at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 made him Kazakhstan’s first medallist in figure skating. A year earlier, he was the silver-medal winner at the world championships in London, Ont.

Canadian Patrick Chan, who took the silver medal ahead of Ten at the 2014 Olympics, said on Twitter he was “honoured and grateful to have shared the ice” with Ten. “One of the most beautiful skaters to have graced our sport. My thoughts are with his family during this unimaginable time.”

Other Canadians offered their condolences on Twitter.

“So sad to hear of Denis Ten’s tragic passing. He was as kind as he was talented,” posted ice dance star Scott Moir. “It was an honour to share the ice with him. You will be greatly missed, Denis.”

Added four-time world champion Kurt Browning: “With the loss of Denis Ten the skating world lost one of our future leaders. Having recently worked with him, I was in awe of his vision and love for the world. He had infinite resources to offer and so willing to share.”

Ten “brought glory to our country” and helped popularize the sport, said Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

“Denis was not only an excellent athlete, whose talents was recognized and honoured in many countries of the world, but also a remarkable personality and a true patriot of Kazakhstan,” he said.