Queralt Castellet, Olympic halfpipe medalist, 'grateful to be here' after crash injuries
Queralt Castellet, the Olympic snowboard halfpipe silver medalist from Spain, posted that she's "grateful to be here" after significant injuries from a crash at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on Saturday.
Castellet suffered six fractured ribs and a collapsed lung in a crash in her second of three runs. She landed awkwardly on the lip, fell through the air and crashed toward the bottom of the pipe, hitting her helmet on the ground.
The competition was stopped for 13 minutes. Castellet did not take her third and final run.
"A frightening for life … a whole lot of luck," was posted on Castellet’s social media Thursday with images of her sitting up in a medical room bed. "Grateful to be here after collecting all the pieces.. glad that even tho it wont be pleasurable i will be recovered.
"I have now not other choice but to take in all that time and look after my body and myself."
Castellet, then 32, became the oldest Olympic snowboard halfpipe medalist when she took silver behind American Chloe Kim last year in her fifth Winter Games. Castellet also won the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado, in 2020.
