Russia's Pavel Karelin is pictured at the four hills ski jumping tournament in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in this Jan 1, 2011 file photo. [China Daily via Agencies]

Leader of the Russian national ski jumping team Pavel Karelin was killed in a car accident early Sunday, according to local media reports.

RIA Novosti news agency said the 21-year-old ski jumper was killed in a car crash near Central Russia's Nizhny Novgorod and the airbags in his car failed.

"The tragedy took place early this morning. Pavel died, his two friends are in serious condition," Karelin's personal coach Alexander Svyatov was quoted as saying.

Vladimir Slavsky, deputy head of Russia's Federation of Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined, said Karelin "either fell asleep or lost control of the vehicle" and died when his car swerved off the highway.

Karelin, who was born in April 1990, made his World Cup debut in 2007. During his brief career, he won three FIS World Cup medals - team silver, individual silver and team bronze and three FIS Summer Grand Prix medals - two individual silvers and one team bronze.

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