A Canadian skier suffered a possible broke pelvis following one of the nastiest crashes of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Team Canada’s Christopher Del Bosco was competing in a crash-ridden eighth heat of the men’s ski cross competition on Wednesday when he and three other competitors entered one of the final jumps of the race.
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Del Bosco entered the jump behind his competitors and went flying off course, jolting off balance and significantly higher than the other men. He appeared to lose his footing on a previous jump, potentially leaving him unprepared to navigate the hill.
Crash Olympics Menโs Ski Cross (Christopher Delbosco) pic.twitter.com/vLAjWOm9Zk
โ แ (@Dani___Alves) February 21, 2018
As he surged off the hill, the Canadian swung his arms and legs with no hope of correcting the jump.
He landed on his back and required nearly 10 minutes of medical attention at the side of the course until he was carried out on a stretcher.
The severity of his injuries is unclear, but he waved to the crowd as he was carried off the course.
#TeamCanadaโs Chris Del Bosco of #Vail waves to cheering crowd from medical sled after absolutely nasty crash on #skicross course. He was advocating for course changes in training so skiers didnโt send too deep off the jumps. He sent way past the transition. Ugly ugly crash. pic.twitter.com/YSWuIU9Y6x
โ Jason Blevins (@jasonblevins) February 21, 2018
While one official claimed Del Bosco suffered a broken pelvis, the Team Canada public relations team tweets that he has “been taken to hospital with team doctors for examination.”
Update on Chris Del Bosco:
โ Team Canada PR (@TeamCanadaPR) February 21, 2018
Chris Del Bosco sustained a fall during todayโs ski cross race. Heโs been taken to hospital with team doctors for examination. Further information will be released when available.@TeamCanada | @Alpine_Canada
They planned to wait for the results before sharing a prognosis.
Del Bosco was only one of the skiers who suffered a crash on the Phoenix Park course on Wednesday. Terence Tchiknavorian of France was also taken to a hospital with a suspected fractured shin during the heat, and Austrian skier Christoph Wahrstoetter suffered a concussion after colliding with another competitor in heat six.
But despite the injures, and a collision between Canada’s Kevin Drury and Russian Sergey Ridzik in the final, the athletes refused to blame the course or conditions for the mishaps.
“Throughout the season you see a lot of crashes,” Drury said, Huffington Post reports. “It is part of the sport. It is the bad part of the sport but it is kind of what happens.”
“It is sad (these injuries) are happening,” added Slovenia’s Filip Flisar, who was booted from the competition in the semi-finals. “There is not a lot you can do because the specifics of the sport itself are extreme.”
