BELCONNEN, Australia, January 8. ACCORDING to a release posted by Swimming Australia<\/b>, Leigh Barnier died tragically in an avalanche while snowboarding at the Big White Ski Resort in Canada over the weekend. The 21-year-old swam for the world famous Carlile Swimming Club and also competed for North Narrabeen Surf Life Saving Club on Sydney's Northern Beaches. <\/p>\n
Barnier was on a working holiday in Canada after taking a break from competitive swimming following the Australian Short Course Championships in September and the completion of his science degree at Macquarie University in December. <\/p>\n
Barnier's former coach Rick Curl, who had guided the backstroke and butterfly swimmer since 2004, said he was a valuable member of his club's team. <\/p>\n
"Leigh was a team leader in every way. He was a great swimmer, had a tremendous work ethic and will be sorely missed by everyone," Curl said. "He was such a positive influence on all of those around him and really was the team leader at our club. It's hard to believe someone that was so giving to so many is no longer with us." <\/p>\n
Swimming Australia CEO Glenn Tasker also voiced his condolences. <\/p>\n
"On behalf of Swimming Australia's members and the swimming community in this country I would like to pass on my deepest sympathies to Leigh Barnier's family, friends and club mates at Carlile," Tasker said. <\/p>\n
Barnier's competitive swimming history included regular finals appearances at the Australian Age Championships and an eighth placing in the 200 meter butterfly at the 2006 Australian Short Course Championships. <\/p>\n
Representing North Narrabeen Surf Life Saving Club, and amongst other achievements in the ocean, Barnier won the open surf race at the 2006 on Sydney's Northern Beaches Branch Championships. <\/p>\n
Barnier's family has asked for privacy at this time.<\/p>\n
Swimming World's condolences go out to Barnier's friends and family. We would also like to thank David Lyall of Swimming Australia for contributing this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BELCONNEN, Australia, January 8. ACCORDING to a release posted by Swimming Australia, Leigh Barnier died tragically in an avalanche while snowboarding at the Big White Ski Resort in Canada over<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n