Winter Olympics star in horror crash and left motionless on the floor as officials slammed
Winter Olympics viewers made their anger abundantly clear with officials after South Korea's Gaon Choi's alarming crash while competing in the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games. During her opening run in the women's snowboard halfpipe final on Thursday, Choi caught the lip of the halfpipe whilst attempting a cab 1080, resulting in a heavy fall to the ground.
The 17-year-old remained motionless for several distressing minutes as TV cameras turned away, then cut away to other action taking place at the same time. When the break in the event came to an end, Choi could be seen making her way to the bottom of the pipe on her own, in an encouraging sign.
Taking to social media, many fans condemned the medical personnel on site for failing to attend to Choi promptly after her frightening tumble.
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"Is no one going to see if that snowboarder is okay on the half pipe? No one rushed to her for a bit," an X user posted, with another commenting: "17 year old just eats s*** on the half pipe and the emergency crew takes their time to get to her. Embarrassing response time."
Others criticised the event organisers for permitting the competition to continue despite adverse weather conditions. By the time the first round concluded, just five of the 12 competing athletes had managed to execute a clean run without falling.
"Is this half pipe final even safe? This girl looks like she's seriously hurt herself and no ones finished a run yet," one viewer said. Another added: "This half pipe final is carnage. So many falls, weather most certainly a factor in all of this."
A fifth person wrote: "Ummm can we postpone this women's final in half pipe everyone is getting hurt with the snow conditions!"
Choi was on the floor, in the middle of the halfpipe, for approximately two minutes, before getting to her feet in an event that was marred by failed first runs.
Against all odds, the teenager returned for the second round. She may well have been feeling the effects of her earlier fall, though, skidding early and pulling out of her first trick.
She has won three World Cup contests this season and is arguably the biggest threat to reigning gold medalist Chloe Kim.
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This article first appeared on Mirror US.