A swimsuit-clad woman crossed the finish line holding a banner in memory of late NBA great Kobe Bryant at the Schladming World Cup slalom on Tuesday and sent racer Alex Vinatzer into despair.
The Italian celebrated taking the lead in the second run only to discover that the woman, whose banner read '24 RIP KOBE', had triggered the clock before he had crossed the line.
Vinatzer's time was corrected and instead of leading he found himself 0.13 seconds behind France's Clement Noel.
Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen won the race in the Austrian ski resort with Vinatzer finishing sixth.
Bryant, one of the NBA's greatest players, was killed on Sunday aged 41 in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles along with his daughter and seven other people on board.
A video showing the inside of Kobe Bryant's helicopter just two days before it crashed killing the Lakers legend, his daughter Gigi and seven others has emerged.
The footage shared on Twitter on Sunday was filmed by a passenger inside the chopper and shows a young boy looking out the aircraft window as the Sikorsky S-76B flew over the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of Southern California.
The boy is sitting in the exact spot where Bryant was photographed in the chopper relaxing while traveling to his last NBA game on April 13, 2016.
Unlike the thick and low fog that may have contributed to Bryant's crash on Sunday, the view from the helicopter across the water to the shore was clear and sunny.
The video and pictures of the helicopter were tweeted by user 'IWiIlkaga' along with the tail number of the chopper, N72EX.
Naomi Osaka plays on an alternate sort of court. All things being equal, the motivation she took from Kobe Bryant — who became “addicted” to tennis in retirement — stays similarly as solid.
Naomi Osaka wrote an ardent letter to Bryant on Instagram saying thanks to her “Big Bro” for his motivation and sympathy. Bryant and his 13-year-old little girl Gianna were two of nine who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
Bryant submerged himself in tennis after his 2016 retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers. “I played a lot of tennis, and all of a sudden, I found myself addicted to it,” Bryant told at the U.S. Open. He commended Osaka, 22, and Coco Gauff, 15, and has the experience of being a youthful genius to impart to them. He conversed with Osaka regularly and was in her box at the U.S. Open alongside Colin Kaepernick.
Some 20,000 mourners packed the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Monday for the public memorial honoring legendary former NBA player Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, who were killed along with seven other people in a helicopter crash last month.
The star-studded ceremony opened with a powerful performance by Beyoncé singing her song "XO" which she said was one of Bryant's favorite songs and includes the lyrics: "In the darkest hour / I'll search through the crowd / Your face is all I can see / I'll give you everything."
At various points throughout the event, the crowd broke out in chants of "Kobe! Kobe!"
Retired NBA stars Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade, and Tim Duncan along with entertainer Jennifer Lopez and her fiance retired baseball player Alex Rodriguez and late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel were all in attendance for the ceremony.
During his remarks, Kimmel told the crowd he found it difficult to find the positive in the tragedy that claimed the lives of nine people last month, acknowledging, "It was hard, because there isn't much."
But later he added: "The best thing I was able to come up with is this: gratitude. It seems to me that all we can do is be grateful for the time we had with them and for the time we have left with each other."