The younger brother of famed skier Bode Miller was found dead after suffering a seizure in his van near Mammoth Lakes, officials said Tuesday.
Chelone Miller, 29, of Easton, N.H., a snowboarder who raced competitively, was found unresponsive near the Mono County town at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, said Jennifer Hansen, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Department. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Miller suffered a seizure that may have stemmed from a 2005 motorcycle crash that left him in a coma for 11 days, according to a statement by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.
Hansen said an autopsy would be conducted.
Miller, who went by the nickname Chilly, specialized in snowboardcross, in which snowboarders race around a course filled with tight turns, narrow chutes, jumps, berms and steep hills. It became an Olympic event in 2006.
Miller had made “great progress” this past season, said Bill Marolt, president and CEO of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. He finished fourth in the 2013 Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix in Canyons, Utah, and won the Banzai Tour at the Sugar Bowl resort in the Sierra on March 12.
Miller hoped to qualify for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
His older brother is one of the best-known and most successful U.S. skiers. Bode Miller, 35, won five Olympic medals in 2002 and 2010 and is a two-time World Cup champion.
