[vexacon]

Whistler ski star Sarah Burke in induced coma after crash

VANCOUVER — Whistler freestyle skiing pioneer Sarah Burke remains in critical condition in a coma after suffering an injury during a training run on the superpipe at a personal sponsor event Tuesday.

Burke, 29, sustained the injury during a training run at the Park City Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah, and was immediately airlifted to a Salt Lake City hospital.

The exact nature of her injury has not been disclosed.

“At this point we have no real details as to what transpired in terms of the injury and, again, we would speculating largely on what that might be,” Canadian Freestyle Ski Association CEO Peter Judge said in a conference call.

“Any time there’s an injury, you always do a full audit to understand fully what the root causes were and if there were ways that you could make anything safer and I’m sure that will be the case in this as well.”

She is currently listed in critical condition in the Neuro Critical Care Unit at a hospital in Salt Lake City, according to a statement released by the CFSA Wednesday morning.

“Sarah sustained serious injuries and remains intubated and sedated in critical condition,” said Safdar Ansari, M.D., a neurointensivist with University of Utah Health Care, in the statement.

Sarah’s husband, Rory Bushfield, and her family are currently at Burke’s bedside after catching a flight to Salt Lake City.

“Sarah is a very strong young woman and she will most certainly fight to recover,” said Bushfield in the CFSA statement.

Burke’s family is expected to release a separate statement sometime Wednesday afternoon.

Burke’s Facebook page and Twitter account (@sarah_j_burke) has been inundated with get-well messages from friends, teammates and fans since news of the accident went public Tuesday afternoon.

“Whistler is pullin' for ya Sarah! We've seen all the amazing stuff you can do. You got this one too! Sending lots of healing energy to you,” wrote Angie Nolan on Burke’s Facebook page.

The CFSA is scheduled to hold a conference call regarding the incident Wednesday afternoon.

“This is an extremely unfortunate situation and we are awaiting further word on Sarah’s condition,” said Canadian Freestyle CEO Peter Judge.

“Sarah is the top female halfpipe athlete in the world she was instrumental in launching the sport and has continued to be a leader moving towards the sport’s Olympic debut in 2014. She is an incredibly resilient and strong young woman and we are hoping she will draw on that strength at this time. Our thoughts are with her and her family at this time.”

Burke, who grew up in Midland, Ont. and moved to Whistler, is a pioneer in women’s freestyle skiing and a trailblazer in getting women’s ski superpipe into the X Games, at which she is a four-time winner

She was also instrumental in getting the superpipe into the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where she is expected to contend for a gold medal if she is healthy.

A few weeks before the 2010 Olympics, while she was still struggling to get her sport included, Burke said in an interview with The Associated Press that it was frustrating to be on the outside looking in.

[Steve]

Absolutely no idea who she is but hope she has a speedy recovery anyway.

[güttsfükk]

hotty, i cant see her doctor's winning the fight with the moral issue of whether to cop a feel or not

[grimekeepa]

UPDATE: SARAH IS NO LONGER ALIVE. RIP FREESTYLE HOTTIE

[durt]

from the news reports of the injury details, sounds like she was pretty much dead at the hill!

[Steve]

Sad.

[collaredgirl65]

[bexinthecity]

This is quite sad even though I had no idea who she was but still.. she was pretty young.