Sarah Burke, 29, is a four-time X Games champion.
Updated Jan 11, 2012 5:12 AM ET
Sarah Burke, the top women's freestyle skier in the world, is in critical condition in a coma after being seriously injured Tuesday while training on the superpipe.
"We’re a bit shell-shocked right now,” Peter Judge, CEO of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, told the Toronto Star. He confirmed that Burke is in a coma but cautioned that he isn’t sure what that means for her recovery.
“It’s tough to read. The signs are dramatic and catastrophic, but it’s hard to gauge how dramatic and catastrophic. The same treatment and symptoms can be on a broad scale.” And Judge said he’s still trying to piece together what happened to cause Burke’s injury.
“What I’ve heard, relatively directly, is that she landed a trick down in the bottom end of the pipe, and kind of bounced, from her feet to her head,” Judge told the Toronto Globe and Mail. “It wasn’t anything that looked like a catastrophic fall, so I’m a bit mystified.”
Andy Miller, the resort’s communications manager, said the halfpipe was the same one on which snowboarder Kevin Pearce was critically injured during training on Dec. 31, 2009. Pearce suffered traumatic brain injuries but has since recovered and returned to riding on snow last month.
Burke’s husband, Rory Bushfield, put out a message on Twitter seeking someone with a private jet who might help him and Burke’s mother expedite a trip from Vancouver to Salt Lake City. Judge said Burke’s mother and husband were both on their way to see her. “Sarah is a very, very strong human and she will be fine,” Bushfield told the Vancouver Sun.
Burke is a four-time Winter X Games champion in skiing superpipe — a replica of snowboarding’s halfpipe on skis. She lobbied aggressively to have the discipline included in the Olympics and was considered one of the top women’s voices in the action sport’s scene.
With the help of her lobbying, skiing halfpipe will make its debut at the Sochi Games. If healthy, she is expected to contend for a gold medal.
A few weeks before the 2010 Olympics, while she was still struggling to get her sport included, Burke conceded in an interview with The Associated Press that it was frustrating to be on the outside looking in.
“We’re all doing this, first off, because we love it and want to be the best,” Burke said. “But I also think it would’ve been a great opportunity, huge for myself and for skiing and for everyone, if we could’ve gotten into the Olympics. It’s sad. I mean, I’m super lucky to be where I am, but that would’ve been pretty awesome.”
Burke missed significant time in 2009 when she landed awkwardly and broke a vertebrae in her lower back. Since healing, she has returned to the top of her game and was scheduled to defend her title at the Winter X Games later this month in Aspen.