Grieving father recalls skier’s ‘awesome journey’
Canadian Zoricic dies in course crash
VANCOUVER In 1988, as Yugoslavia was on the verge of its violent and bloody breakup, Predrag Zoricic brought his family to Canada so they could have a better life.
Sunday, in the still-terrible hours following his son Nik’s death after a crash in a World Cup ski cross race in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Predrag Zoricic said that his son did get to enjoy a better life.
“He had an awesome journey, it was just a little bit short,” Zoricic said Sunday from his Toronto home. “He’s going to live forever and be young forever. I guess that’s a positive sign.”
Nik Zoricic was 29. He died of severe neurotrauma after crashing into netting near the bottom of the course. He is survived by his mother Silvia and his sister Katrina, 25, who’s studying law at Michigan State. Nik’s uncle Mio Zoricic lives in Germany. His grandfather still lives in Sarajevo.
“We are all over the globe because of that conflict we had when the former Yugoslavia fell apart,” Predrag Zoricic said. “Everybody moved out and started new lives. Unfortunately, Nik’s life kind of came short.”
Predrag Zoricic — known to most as Bebe — is a ski coach. He was in Whistler, B.C., with a juvenile aged team when he learned that his son had been in a bad crash and been airlifted to hospital.
“Dave Ellis (the national team’s director of sport), he called me at 3 a.m. in my room,” Zoricic said. “I was on my computer (getting ready to watch Nik’s World Cup race). I heard the phone and that’s what he called me about. He was disturbed, same as me. I thought I was dreaming. I called him back. I said ‘Dave, is it true, what you just said?’ He said it was true.”
Although some have questioned the safety of the course, Predrag Zoricic said Sunday he did not fault race organizers for his son’s death.
“This looks like a freak accident,” he said. “I’m not blaming anybody.”
“I just think it was a very unfortunate accident,” added Canadian head coach Eric Archer. “Every course has a little spot where we might question the full safety of it, but we go through inspection and training runs. If the athletes aren’t comfortable, we go through jury meetings and make a change if it needs to be made. We wouldn’t have been racing if we thought it was unsafe.”
Predrag Zoricic said his son was a multi-talented athlete who played hockey, baseball, football, tennis and golf. “He was a really gifted athlete,” he said.
“Since he was a little kid he loved sports. He played football and baseball. Tennis, he won under-12 all-canadian tournament. He just decided skiing was what he wanted to do.”
On Sunday, Mike Janyk of Whistler finished 19th in a World Cup slalom at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. The result qualified him for the World Cup finals later this week at Schladming, Austria. He paid tribute to his friend after the race.
“We grew up together — across the country but he was a teammate for years,” Janyk said in a release.
“It’s insanely shocking. I can’t believe it. It’s been a tough season and when something tragic like this happens you almost want to harness the beautiful things in life. Standing up there and getting a chance to give your best in whatever that thing is, it’s one of the most amazing things you can do with your life. It’s something special.