Chinese snowboarder suffers scary injury involving emergency sled after brutal crash in halfpipe qualifying

Chinese snowboarder Jiayu Liu fell hard to the ground at Wednesday morning's qualifying for women's halfpipe at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Liu, who needed to move up on the spot to compete in the halfpipe finals, had to be removed via an emergency sled after initially landing a jump, then flipping onto the ground.

Medical officials reportedly later said Liu's injury was " believed to be related to head impact," per Xinhua Sports.

Here's the latest on Liu after her scary fall at the Olympics.

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Chinese snowboarder crash

Liu was on her second qualifying run on Wednesday, in 13th at the time and needing to move up a spot to advance to Thursday's finals.

However, after one of her jumps on the halfpipe, she fell after initially landing safely, flipping forward and landing on her head. The competition was paused for a few minutes as medical staff attended to Liu at the bottom of the halfpipe.

Liu appeared unable to move in the moments after the crash and was put into an emergency sled.

Chinese outlet Xinhua Sports later reported that medical officials "later said Liu was unlikely to have suffered a cervical spine injury," and that her injury was "believed to be related to head impact."

Who is Jiayu Liu?

Jiayu Liu is a 33-year-old snowboarder from China who specializes in the halfpipe event. She is a now-five-time Olympian, also competing for China in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022, including a silver medal in halfpipe in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Liu also has six World Cup Victories and a halfpipe victory at the FIS Snowboarding World Championships 2009.

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