“Broken ribs, bruised lung, lacerated kidney. Thank you Air Zermatt for the beautiful and quick heli ride to the hospital!”
Olympic halfpipe skier Aaron Blunck suffered a lacerated kidney, broke ribs, fractured pelvis and a bruised heart after hitting the deck during a preseason training run in Switzerland last month. According to an interview with the International Ski Federation the 24-year-old Coloradan was working on a switch double cork 1440 when disaster struck:
“The first thing I remember was the pain just shut my eyes, and I was just screaming in immediate, horrible pain, and thinking to myself, ‘This is bad. This is really not good.’ And I knew if I was already in that much pain after having so much adrenaline just before the crash …honestly, it crossed my mind that I might die.”
He was airlifted to a local hospital where Swiss doctors stabilized him. Arron is one tough SOB and was released and back on his feet in just two days. He’s on the mend and may even return to competition in February for the first 2022 Olympic qualifier in Mammoth but for now he’s just grateful he can get back on the snow:
“After having a crash as serious as the one I had, now I just want to ski for the sake of skiing. I don’t want to worry about impressing the judges, I don’t want to focus on winning the contest. I just want to do the best that Aaron Blunck can do.”