During the men’s halfpipe final on Wednesday, 16-year-old Japanese snowboarder Yuto Totsuka crashed into the upper lip of the halfpipe while performing his second run.
It was a violent crash and it left those in the crowd and the commentators watching speechless.
After the crash, Totsuka lay motionless on the ground and had to be stretchered off the course by medical staff.
It was a somber moment in an otherwise exciting event. After the brief interlude, American snowboarder Shaun White later won the gold medal and Totsuka’s teammate, Ayumu Hirano won the silver.
Very little was said of Totsuka’s status during the event, other than that he had been evacuated from the mountain and taken to the nearest hospital.
Washington Post’s national sports reporter Adam Kilgore recently provided an update on Totsuka’s status with a tweet that said: “Quick update on Yuto Totsuka, the Japanese snowboarder who suffered a horrific crash yesterday: He was transported to a hospital for tests and a CT Scan. He has hip pain, but no broken bones. He’s back in the Olympic village