Caleb Moore: X Games Snowmobiler Dies From Injuries

Snowmobiler Caleb Moore died Thursday due to injuries sustained during a Jan. 24 crash at the Winter X Games in Colorado.

The death of the 25-year-old Texas native was the first at the X Games since they began 17 years ago.

While performing a flip in the snowmobile freestyle contest, Moore flew over the handlebars of the 450-pound machine, causing it to roll over him, knocking him unconscious. Despite being able to walk off with only a concussion, Moore was later found to be bleeding around his heart.

During emergency surgery, Moore suffered secondary complications, according to his family, who refused to release the specifics of his surgery or death, saying via a statement, "This morning Caleb Moore passed away. He will be truly missed and never forgotten."

Other X Game competitors were quick to react to the accident.

"It's definitely a scary thing for a sport like ours," snowmobiler and X Games competitor Levi LaVallee told USA Today.

"The only thing we can do is we can look at that and learn from it and look at how we can try to prevent that . . . Other than that, you look at it, what happened to him, was an accident. He's done that trick multiple times. He's practiced. He's done everything he can to prevent that."

Fellow competitor and close friend, Daniel Bodin also reacted to Moore's passing.

"Ten years ago we didn't have foam pits, and it was just a couple of guys who had the foam pits. So everything is much safer now days. But still we keep pushing harder and harder, and everyone wants that gold medal. Everyone wants to be the best in the world. We're trying as much as we can . . . It's tough out there. We're just pushing so much," said Bodin.

Responding to questions over the sport's safety, ESPN released a statement Tuesday saying, "We've worked closely on safety issues with athletes, course designers and other experts for each of the 18 years of X Games. Still, when the world's best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain. Caleb is a four-time X Games medalist who fell short on his rotation on a move he has landed several times previously."

Moore's brother Colten also crashed in this year's X Games, suffering a detached pelvis.