Freestyle skier taken off course in medical sled as she loses consciousness after nasty fall as statement released

Canadian freestyle skier Cassie Sharpe suffered a bad fall during the women’s freeski halfpipe on Thursday.

Sharpe was taken away on a sled after medical treatment and raised her arms to indicate she was okay.

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The former Winter Olympic champion lost consciousness but is now in a stable condition.

She is also awake and talking to people in hospital in Livigno.

Sharpe had already qualified for Saturday’s final with a brilliant score of 88.25 during her first run before the accident.

The 33-year-old claimed gold in 2018 and silver in 2022, but judges don’t believe she’ll be able to compete in the final in an attempt to be crowned Olympic champion again.

She could still compete, but it is likely the medical advice would be for her to not to.

Defending champion Eileen Gu also made the final despite falling during her first run.

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AFP

Positive news

In a statement, the Canadian Olympic Committee said: “Freestyle skier Cassie Sharpe was injured on course during the women’s freestyle ski halfpipe qualification round.

“She is in a stable condition and is being evaluated by COC and Freestyle Canada medical staff.”

Sharpe took a two-year break from competing after winning silver in 2022 but is now highly unlikely to compete in Saturday’s final.

Who is in the final?

The favourite for the gold medal is Gu having already won two silvers at this Winter Olympics.

Gu also fell, but she managed to recover and make it into the final.

She said: “I was relieved. I just kind of had this moment of like, ‘Thank you.’

“You know, I shouldn’t be in this position to begin with, but I’m glad that I was able to reinforce my sense of self-belief at the moment when it counted.”

Also in medal contention is Team GB’s Zoe Atkin, who qualified for the final in first place with a score of 91.5 on her first run.

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Atkin is the younger sister of Izzy Atkin, who won Great Britain’s first ever Olympic medal on skis with her slopestyle bronze in PyeongChang in 2018.

Incredibly, Atkin will be joined by 16-year-old Indra Brown.

Brown represents Australia and has defied all the odds to qualify in fourth place.