Nina O’Brien suffered a scary crash in her Olympic debut, tumbling through the finish line in her second run of the giant slalom Monday morning in Beijing. She had to be taken off the course on a stretcher after falling on the last gate.O’Brien, a 24-year-old member of Team Palisades from San Francisco, had been in sixth-place heading after her first run. The crash disqualified her from the event. Details on her condition were not immediately available, though video showed she may have suffered a leg injury. | VIDEO | Skier Nina O’Brien crashes during giant slalom runThe U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team tweeted that she was “alert and responsive.” In giant slalom, skiers zig-zag down a mountain at high speeds. It features fewer and wider turns than slalom. Mikaela Shiffrin, the American reigning Olympic champion heading into the event, also crashed on the same course during her first run and missed the medal podium. She tweeted that “we are so heartbroken for Nina,” saying that O’Brien had shown “so much heart and fire in her skiing today, and it all got shredded to pieces on the final turn.”Shiffrin added that the sport is “brutal and it hurts – far more often than it ever feels good.” “The warrior that she is, she will get back stronger and speedier than ever, with the same upbeat and kind attitude that is trademark Nina,” Shiffrin wrote. “But tonight we’re all just sad and crossing our fingers for the best news possible.” Sara Hector of Sweden won the gold medal in the event. Frederica Brignone of Italy won silver and Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland won the bronze medal.
Nina O’Brien suffered a scary crash in her Olympic debut, tumbling through the finish line in her second run of the giant slalom Monday morning in Beijing. She had to be taken off the course on a stretcher after falling on the last gate.
O’Brien, a 24-year-old member of Team Palisades from San Francisco, had been in sixth-place heading after her first run. The crash disqualified her from the event.
Details on her condition were not immediately available, though video showed she may have suffered a leg injury.
| VIDEO | Skier Nina O’Brien crashes during giant slalom run
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team tweeted that she was “alert and responsive.”
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In giant slalom, skiers zig-zag down a mountain at high speeds. It features fewer and wider turns than slalom.
Mikaela Shiffrin, the American reigning Olympic champion heading into the event, also crashed on the same course during her first run and missed the medal podium.
She tweeted that “we are so heartbroken for Nina,” saying that O’Brien had shown “so much heart and fire in her skiing today, and it all got shredded to pieces on the final turn.”
This content is imported from Twitter.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Shiffrin added that the sport is “brutal and it hurts – far more often than it ever feels good.”
“The warrior that she is, she will get back stronger and speedier than ever, with the same upbeat and kind attitude that is trademark Nina,” Shiffrin wrote. “But tonight we’re all just sad and crossing our fingers for the best news possible.”
Sara Hector of Sweden won the gold medal in the event. Frederica Brignone of Italy won silver and Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland won the bronze medal.
