THE CANADIAN PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY — Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke remains in an induced coma after suffering a head injury in a crash while training on a superpipe, officials said Wednesday.
The nature of Burke’s injuries have not been disclosed.
In a statement released by the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, a doctor at the University of Utah hospital said Burke "sustained serious injuries and remains intubated and sedated in critical condition."
Chris Nelson, assistant vice-president for public affairs at the hospital, said Burke was having surgery Wednesday afternoon.
Dr. Robert Foxford, the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association team doctor, said he has received little information from American medical officials treating Burke. But they appeared to be following standard procedures for treatment of serious head injuries.
"That would be standard with people with a significant head injury, that the brain is put to rest, there is an induced coma, and they give them medication to make sure there’s almost no brain activity," he said in a conference call.
Burke’s husband, Rory Bushfield, and members of her family were with the skier.
"Sarah is a very strong young woman and she will most certainly fight to recover," Bushfield said in the same statement.
"Her family is there in regular touch with the medical people," Peter Judge, the head of the ski association, said earlier in an interview.
"We’ve been getting some information but … we’re trying to give them space to be able to deal with this part of it on their time and their terms."
Despite the accident, Judge insists freestyle skiing is safe.
"Freestyle has been built very, very safely almost from the ground up," he said. "In almost 35 years of world cup aerial history we have had absolutely no serious injuries and yet there are other sports that are measured in deaths a year."
Burke is a halfpipe pioneer who also lobbied tirelessly to get her sport included in the Winter Olympics. Halfpipe skiing will debut at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
She was airlifted from Park City, Utah, to Salt Lake City after crashing at the end of a training run Tuesday in advance of the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo.
The native of Barrie, Ont., who grew up in nearby Midland before moving to Squamish, B.C., was training with a private group at the time of the accident.
"We know that she had landed a trick in the pipe and had landed at the bottom of the pipe and kind of hit on her feet, so she landed, and then bounced onto her feet, head kind of thing," Judge said Tuesday. "Apparently, from what we heard, it didn’t look like it was that kind of severe a fall, but obviously she must have just hit in the right way."
Park City Mountain Resort spokesman Andy Miller said the accident happened in the early afternoon on the same halfpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce was critically injured during training Dec. 31, 2009. Pearce suffered traumatic brain injuries but has since recovered and returned to riding on snow last month.
Well-wishers flooded Burke’s Facebook page or posted on Twitter, wishing her a speedy recovery.
"(at)sarah–j–burke – I love you, I’m thinking about, I’m even praying for you," Montreal freestyle skier Maude Raymond said in a Twitter post.
Canadian snowboarder Spencer O’Brien posted: "Hoping and praying the best for (at)sarah–j–burke."
Judge said Burke has been a leader in the sport almost from the beginning.
"That whole acrobatic side is something that she was pretty integral in right from the start," he said.
And Judge added Burke has always pushed the boundaries of the sport and her own limits.
"I think that’s what’s kept her competitive through such a long period of time," Judge said.
He also said she was tireless in promoting the sport and helping others develop.
"Sometimes it’s not a very sexy thing to do but it was certainly something that she was invested in and I think it speaks volumes in terms of her character," Judge said.
As to whether any safety improvements can be made as a result of the injury, Judge said the jury is still out.
"At this point we have no real details as to what transpired in terms of the injury," he said. "We would be speculating.
"Any time there is an injury you always do a full audit to understand fully what the root causes were and if there were ways that you could make anything safer."