PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Reuters) - Canada’s Christopher Delbosco suffered a possible broken pelvis and Terence Tchiknavorian of France was taken to hospital with a suspected fractured shin after a crash-ridden round of the men’s ski cross heats on Wednesday.
An Austrian team official said Christoph Wahrstoetter had suffered a concussion after colliding with Sweden’s Erik Mobaerg in heat six.
Mobaerg was able to walk away from the crash and was seen talking to reporters after the event. Delbosco received lengthy medical treatment after landing on his back, but was seen raising his arms as he was carried off the course on a stretcher.
He was taken to hospital for treatment after injuring his pelvis.
The Canadian press attache had earlier said Delbosco suffered a broken pelvis but team officials later said they wanted to wait on further tests before confirming the severity of the injury.
Tchiknavorian’s team mate Jean Frederic Chapuis told reporters that the 25-year-old had suffered a broken leg but this wasn’t confirmed by the press attache, who stressed on waiting for official confirmation from the team doctor.
Despite the three injuries, as well as a collision between Kevin Drury and Sergey Ridzik in the final, the athletes refused to blame the course and said injuries were part of the sport.
“Throughout the season you see a lot of crashes,” said Drury. “It is part of the sport. It is the bad part of the sport but it is kind of what happens.”
“It is sad (these injuries) are happening,” added Slovenia’s Filip Flisar, who went out in the semi-finals. “There is not a lot you can do because the specifics of the sport itself are extreme.”
(Reporting by Jack Tarrant; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
