CHICAGO — An Olympic ski jumper from McHenry, Ill., has died in a motorcycle crash, officials confirmed Wednesday.
Twenty-four-year-old Patrick Gasienica, who competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, died Monday afternoon in a crash while returning home from work.
The crash occurred in the 1000 block of Cherry Valley Road in Bull Valley. Gasienica was transported to Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from blunt force trauma, the McHenry County coroner’s office reported.
The McHenry County sheriff’s office is investigating.
Gasienica was born in Chicago and took up jumping when he was just 4, first in Park City, Utah. When his family moved to northwest suburban Spring Grove when he was 13, Gasienica began jumping at Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove, which claims to be the oldest, continuously open ski club in the United States.
“Some of my earliest memories are the sensation of flying through the air and thinking this is the craziest thing,” Gasienica told the Elgin Courier-News before the Olympics.
His father, Wojtek Gasienica, was one of his coaches and trains others at Norge. Patrick Gasienica lived in McHenry with his mother, Jolanta Kiwior.
A spokesman for the club, Charlie Sedovic, said Gasienica had been training again at Norge for the next Olympics.
“It was a quite a blow, we’re still in shock,” Sedovic said. “He was very popular with all the skiers. He was a real gentleman and a sweet kid. He’s going to be missed.”
A GoFundMe page was set up to raise money for his mother.
“Patrick was a specially gifted Olympic athlete and his passing is much too soon,” the page stated. “Patrick’s mother, his two sisters, and Bob, Jolanta’s fiance, are together grieving. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jolanta and her family in their time of need. Any amount donated will be an expression of our sympathy and love for Patrick and his family.”
