Freestyle skiing star Sarah Burke is in a coma and listed in critical condition after a fall in the superpipe at Utah's Park City Mountain Resort on Tuesday (Jan. 10).
The four-time X Games gold medalist and 蜜桃视频appresident fell while training and was airlifted to the University of Utah hospital, according to the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association (CFSA).
"Sarah sustained serious injuries and remains intubated and sedated in critical condition," said Dr. Safdar Ansari, a neurointensivist with the hospital, in a Wednesday (Jan. 11) release from the CFSA.
Quoting the hospital's vice-president of public affairs, USA Today reported that Burke was to undergo surgery on Wednesday.
Though news of the 29-year-old's condition grabbed headlines worldwide when word of her fall came Tuesday, it's still unclear exactly what happened to cause the injury.
"What I've heard, relatively directly, is that she landed a trick down in the bottom end of the pipe, and kind of bounced, from her feet to her head," Peter Judge, CFSA CEO, told the Globe and Mail. "It wasn't anything that looked like a catastrophic fall, so I'm a bit mystified."
Freeskiing website 蜜桃视频appchoolers.com reported that Burke was attempting a flatspin 540, in which a skier completes 1 1/2 rotations in the pipe while spinning relatively parallel to the ground. However, CFSA officials on a conference call with media on Wednesday could not confirm that.
"As far I understand, it wasn't anything out of the norm, anything new or anything at the far end of the scale," Judge said.
Burke's husband, fellow pro skier Rory Bushfield, and other family members were at her bedside in the Salt Lake City hospital.
"Sarah is a very strong young woman and she will most certainly fight to recover," Bushfield said in the CFSA release.
Beyond being an elite competitor, Burke is considered a pioneer and role model in her sport. In the campaign to make ski halfpipe an Olympic sport, Burke was one of the most vocal advocates. Since the announcement of the event's debut for the 2014 Sochi Games, Burke has been focused on preparing for those Olympics as a member of the national halfpipe team.
Originally from Midland, Ont., Burke is also active in coaching young skiers through Whistler's Momentum Ski Camps.
During Wednesday's conference call, Judge dismissed the idea that the sport lacks the proper safeguards to prevent serious injury.
"The sport, in general, is extremely safe," Judge said. "These athletes take significant measures to ensure that the kind of things they do are safe, well within their skill sets."
Burke's fall came in the same pipe where U.S. snowboarder Kevin Pearce sustained a serious brain injury in December 2009. Pearce, whose accident came just weeks before he was to contend for a medal at the 2010 Olympics, made a full recovery but took nearly two years to get back on a snowboard.
