Rowan Cheshire, the British halfpipe skier who won her first World Cup event last month, was last night knocked unconscious in training following a day when several other skiers also suffered accidents.
The 18-year-old's hopes of competing on Thursday were left in the balance when she fell heavily on her face after hitting the left wall of the halfpipe. After being examined by Team GB medical staff it was confirmed she had concussion and Cheshire was taken to the local hospital overnight as a precaution.
The accident came a day after the Russian freestyle skier Maria Komissarova broke her back on the nearby slopes and on a day when three other athletes were hurt after falling at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.
The official Olympic news service reported that Cheshire was unconscious for several minutes before being taken on a stretcher to the nearby medical tent. A British Olympic Association spokesman confirmed that she had suffered a fall but did not go into detail on the nature of the injury. "She was immediately taken from the course and is currently at the polyclinic in the Mountain Village, where she is being evaluated by Team GB medical personnel," he added.
Cheshire, the second youngest member of the 56-strong British team, is one of a group of so-called "fridge kids" who have captured the imagination during the Sochi Games. Having learned to ski on her local dry slope in Stoke, she attended the "grom camps" run by current Team GB freestyle skiing coach Pat Sharples and now trains at indoor ski centre Chill FactorE. In an interview with the Guardian before the Games she said that dealing with the psychological challenge of the sport was key. "It's definitely a big mind game. It's getting over the scariness of the bigger tricks, getting your mind together and just doing them," she said.
Cheshire won the gold medal in a World Cup event in Calgary last month and is ranked seventh in the overall standings.
Russian ski cross competitor Komissarova, who was visited in hospital by Vladimir Putin after sustaining a serious back injury while training, was last night airlifted to Germany to continue her treatment.
