People watching the men’s ski cross competition at Phoenix Park during the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang witnessed Candian skier Christopher Del Bosco‘s brutal fall on Wednesday.
This event has skiers racing down a mountain side-by-side, racing over bumps, jumps, and dips. They reach upwards of 40 miles per hour.
In one of the final jumps of the race, Del Bosco went flying much higher than his competitors. He had lost his footing on a prior jump, which led him to improperly navigate this hill.
In the video below, it appears that Del Bosco landed on his back with his helmet hitting the ground.
The Canadian was attended to for about 10 minutes before being hauled off on a stretcher. The pain must have been excruciating. The skier waved to the audience, which enthusiastically cheered him on.
#TeamCanada’s 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 didn’t send too deep off the jumps. He sent way past the transition. Ugly ugly crash. pic.twitter.com/YSWuIU9Y6x
— Jason ☀️ Blevins (@jasonblevins) February 21, 2018
Del Bosco, who was the 2011 World Champion, is in the hospital in stable condition with a broken pelvis. Injuries are a part of life for almost every athlete, but it’s especially heartbreaking to see an injury of this magnitude, particularly when it occurs during the Olympics.
Fellow Canadian Brady Lemon won the gold medal in this event after Del Bosco was carried off the course.
The 35-year-old skier entered the competition hoping to win a medal. In the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the Canadian just missed a medal by finishing fourth in the men’s ski cross finals. Unfortunately, this dream has alluded him one more time. Thankfully, this is not a life-threatening injury and he will make a full recovery, but his skiing future is in doubt.
Christopher Del Bosco could certainly use our prayers while he recovers from this horrific fall. A broken pelvis will require a long road to recovery.
Skiing accidents are extremely common, and the video below highlights the danger of this extreme sport:
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