16-Year-Old Snowboarding Sensation Suffers Sickening Crash In Halfpipe Final
Japanese snowboarder Yuto Totsuka suffered an awful accident in the final of the men’s halfpipe event that left him lying motionless after he collided heavily with the lip of the pipe.
Totsuka, 16, had just started his second of three runs in the halfpipe final and was attempting a complex trick. As he tried to land the move, his rear appeared to land heavily on the edge of the halfpipe, knocking him over. His body slid, limp, to the middle of the halfpipe, where he ended up lying still.
❗️Wipeout Alert ❗️Japanese snowboarder Yuto Totsuka lands very hard. Hope he is alright#PyeongChang2018#Olympics#snowboardpic.twitter.com/vZsmwAFgAq
— Reddit Sports (@RedditSports)February 14, 2018
Medical personnel quickly descended, and Totsuka was stretchered off the snow for medical attention.
Paramedics are with Japan's Yuto Totsuka, who had a very scary fall in the men's halfpipe finals. We hope he's OK!! 🙏pic.twitter.com/qAnJSPfVcp
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports)February 14, 2018
A USA Today reporter tweeted that Japanese team staff had said Totsuka was taken to hospital with hip pain, but had no serious injury.
Japan’s press officer says Yuto Totsuka has “no big injury”but pain in his hip and was transported to the hospital.
— Rachel Axon (@RachelAxon)February 14, 2018
Later, on Instagram, Totsuka assured his fans, “The body is okay!”
A post shared by yuto_totsuka (@yuto_totsuka)on Feb 15, 2018 at 5:19am PST
This story has been updated with news of Totsuka’s condition.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
