One Of The World’s Best Skiers Passes Away From Crash- RIP Sarah Burke

Four-time X-Games champion and all-around legendary freestyle skier, Sarah Burke passed away today after a Jan. 10 crash during a training run in Park City. Burke only 29 yrs old, crashed on the same half pipe that Kevin Pearce (snowboarder) also crashed on in 2009. Tests revealed she sustained “irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest,” according to a statement released by her publicist, Nicole Wool, on behalf of the family.

Burke not only paved the way for female skiers but helped get superpipe accepted into the Olympics. Burke would have been favorited for a Gold medal in the 2012 Olympics, her death is also sure to re-ignite the debate over safety on the halfpipe.

The Winter X-games kick off next week in Aspen, and it will not be the same without her this year.

Here are just some of Burke’s unparalleled accomplishments:

• the first woman ever to land a jump with 720, 900, and 1080-degree rotation in competition
• won the first ever world championship half-pipe event
• won ESPN’s 2001 Award for female skier of the year
• voted 2007’s Best Female Action Sports Athlete at the ESPY awards
• first woman to attempt a 1260
• named one of the most influential skiers in the past 35 years by Powder Magazine in 2007

Only to name a few!

Our thoughts and prayers go out to her husband skier Rory Bushfield, family, and friends.

She will forever be missed on the mountain.