Snowboarder Shaun White jammed his wrist during a run Tuesday in Sochi, becoming one on the growing list of people injured on the challenging slopestyle course.
Slopestyle qualifying begins Thursday, and although White said this minor injury won’t affect his competition,
he and other athletes are finding the course “intimidating,” ESPN reported.
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Norway’s Torstein Horgmo broke his collarbone there Monday and is out of the competition, and after White’s injury, Marika Enne of Finland hit her head, receiving a concussion.
"It's frustrating to see it," White told ESPN. "It puts a damper on the whole mood, and it's kind of like you're getting ready to do a big trick and you see something like that. Intimidating. Unfortunate. I'm hoping the builders can make some changes and the course has a little more of a friendly vibe. But I can't change the course. Just doing the best I can."
ESPN said many snowboarders and their coaches met at the bottom of the course Tuesday to talk about the issue and what could be changed.
“It's roughed in. We test the course. We come in and tweak it,” snowboarder Chas Guldemond told ESPN. “We have rider meetings. We give builders feedback and make tweaks to the course to make it safer and more usable for the riders.”
But even as they considered the Russian Olympics course, some snowboarders blew off the idea that it was too dangerous.
“There’s no way this is too dangerous,” American Sage Kotsenburg told the Times. “I mean, someone got hurt yesterday, Torstein. ... He’s doing a trick I’ve seen him do 100 times on rails that are gnarlier than the one he did it on.”
Injuries are a part of the sport, as evidenced by Canadian Mark McMorris, who broke a rib in the X Games. Ten days later, he’s in Russia.
“I came up here today and it was way better,” he told the Times. “I was able to jump and start doing tricks again. My confidence level is back up.”
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