ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – American Marin Hamill crashed and fell after a jump during the women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle qualifiers at the Beijing Games on Monday.
Hamill was taken off the course on a stretcher by a medical crew while the competition was briefly paused.
Earlier in the day, fellow American Caroline Claire fell during a practice run on the course and did not compete in the qualifiers.
Skies were clear on Monday after a snowy weekend and temperatures hovered around minus 19 Celsius (minus 2.2 Fahrenheit) but skiers struggled to get to grips with the course following the weekend blizzard that dumped several inches of fresh powder on the course.
Half of the skiers stumbled or missed their landings altogether and crashed in their first run as they grappled with the rail section of the course.
(Reporting by Winni Zhou and Mari Saito; Editing by Robert Birsel)
