Great fear for Jiayu Liu

The 2018 Winter Games Olympic medalist Jiayu Liu suffered a bad fall during the second qualifying heat of the snowboard halfpipe at the Winter Olympic Games.

During the second heat of the qualifier, the 33-year-old Chinese woman, wearing bib number 17, fell violently while landing after a jump. The impact was very hard: the athlete was thrown against the ice at full speed. The very strong images show how she had decided to risk it all, partly because she was temporarily out of the competition at the time.

In the videos quickly circulated on social media, the head of the snowboarder, winner of 11 World Cup races, can clearly be seen hitting the ground. After the impact, she remained motionless, her eyes closed and unable to move, as if unconscious. Help immediately responded and for several minutes assisted her on the track while the race was suspended.

Jiayu Liu was carried off on a stretcher after about eight minutes of care, to the applause of the audience. An Olympic silver medalist in PyeongChang 2018, South Korea, she had scored tenth in the first run (62.75), far, however, from big favorite Chloe Kim (90.25).

She had been in the first run (62.75), but was far behind big favorite Chloe Kim (90.25).

In 2010 she had come close to her first Olympic medal by finishing fourth, at the foot of the podium. In 2022, at the Beijing Games, she had instead finished eighth.