PYEONCHANG, South Korea — Several snowboarders fell during their first runs in the men’s halfpipe final, held here Wednesday morning, with one so severe it required a team of personnel to ski the fallen athlete off the slope for additional medical attention.
Japan’s Yuto Totsuka went too far beyond the edge of the pipe and hit the lip of the halfpipe before falling roughly 35 feet to the flat bottom, smacking to the snow and lying prone while a piece of his equipment slid down the track.
Totsuka sat up while several skiers raced down the pipe.