American Alpine skier Nina O’Brien revealed she had a successful surgery to her left leg less than 24 hours after suffering a brutal crash in the women’s giant slalom at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
O’Brien posted on her Instagram a photo from a hospital in Beijing’s Yanqing District, near the Olympics Alpine skiing venue. According to the post, she suffered an open fracture to her tibia when her skis parted out from under her near the finish of the “Ice River” technical course.
“Well, I gave everything I had, and maybe too much,” O’Brien wrote on Instagram. “I keep replaying it in my head, wishing I’d skied those last few gates differently. But here we are.”
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O’Brien will return to the United States for further evaluation and treatment. She was the top U.S. contender after Mikaela Shiffrin skied out on her first run, and was sixth in the standings heading into the second run.
AJ Hurt will replace O’Brien for the United States in women’s slalom, which begins Wednesday in China.
“I’m a little heartbroken, but also feeling so much love,” O’Brien wrote on Instagram. “Thank you to everyone who’s reached out. My phone is flooded with messages, and waking up to your words means more than you know. The good news is that today is a new day - and I get to cheer on my teammates. Good luck to everyone competing and enjoy it.”
