Inquiry finds no criminal fault in death of Muriel Furrer

Furrer, a Swiss international rider in road, cyclocross and mountain bike, sustained a critical head injury when she crashed in the junior women’s road race at the Zurich Worlds in September 2024, and she died in hospital the following day. The 18-year-old lay injured for more than 80 minutes before she was found on the roadside and airlifted to hospital.

“There is no evidence that the organiser, other riders, or third parties could have been responsible for the rider’s fall,” Erich Wenzinger, a spokesperson for the public prosecutor’s office, told SRF.ch.

Wenzinger added that the public prosecutor concluded that there were no criminal offences relating to the safety of the World Championships circuit, to the procedures followed during the rescue operation, or to the emergency treatment provided at Zurich University Hospital.

The public prosecutor confirmed that it took some 82 minutes for Furrer to be found, and Wenzinger outlined three reasons for the considerable delay. “First, no one saw the fall. Second, the rider was lying in the undergrowth and couldn’t be seen from the road. And third, no live tracking system was in use at the event,” he said. 

In the wake of Furrer’s death, the Tour de Suisse organisation introduced live GPS tracking at last year’s races. Earlier this month, Domestique revealed that the UCI is consulting with teams, riders and organisers on the introduction of mandatory GPS-based tracking systems in order to improve rider safety.

Speaking to Le Temps in October 2025, Muriel’s father Reto Furrer called for new safety measures in cycling beyond the implementation of GPS tracking.

“We really need to improve cyclists’ safety,” he said, citing time trial helmets as an example: “They’re designed for aerodynamics, not for safety.”

The Furrer family have not yet indicated if they will appeal the findings of the Zurich Public Prosecutor’s inquiry.

“Many questions remain unanswered,” Reto Furrer told Le Temps last year. “But when a mistake happens, there are inevitably people responsible. When we know exactly what happened and who bears responsibility, maybe we can prevent such a tragedy from happening again.”