'So heartbroken': Winter Olympics rocked by 'horrendous' scenes

Winter Olympics viewers and fellow competitors were left holding their collective breath after a horrific crash involving American skier Nina O’Brien in the women's giant slalom.

O’Brien crashed across the finish line in her second Olympic giant slalom run, sending gasps throughout an audience that included many fellow racers.

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Doctors and emergency responders tended to her on the icy snow for almost 10 minutes, before dragging her away from the finish area on a stretcher.

Team officials from the USA revealed afterwards that O’Brien was “alert and responsive,” in the aftermath to the horrific crash.

Rather than showing concern about the injuries she might have sustained, the 24-year-old was apparently more "worried about delaying the race," and "wanted to know how fast she was skiing".

O’Brien was one of dozens of skiers who wiped out of the first Alpine race at these Games, the women’s giant slalom. She entered the second of two runs in sixth place, after a morning run that was “really fun.”

She said the hill was “in perfect shape" and “had no idea” at the time that others, including teammate Mikaela Shiffrin, had failed to finish.

The falls continued throughout the second round of runs, however, and O’Brien’s was the scariest.

She lost balance after clipping one of the final two gates. Her skis split, her right knee appeared to bend underneath her at an awkward angle, and she tumbled toward and over the finish line as her skis and poles went flying.

Several metres away, multiple skiers brought their hands to their mouths in horror.

Shiffrin, who slipped during her first run, bowed her head and covered her eyes, before posting an emotional message to her compatriot on social media.

"It's just sooo not even close to fair," Shiffrin wrote.

"The warrior that she is, she will get back stronger and speedier than ever, with the same upbeat and kind attitude that is trademark Nina. But tonight we're all just sad and crossing our fingers for the best news possible."

"We are so heartbroken for Nina... she showed so much heart and fire in her skiing today, and it all got shredded to pieces on the final turn. This sport... this sport is SO damn hard. It’s brutal, and it hurts - far more often than it ever feels good."

Artificial snow wreaking havoc in Beijing

O’Brien lay on her side, her lower body motionless, as she shook her helmeted head. Over a dozen venue personnel eventually helped tend to her as the finish area went eerily silent.

They wrapped her in blue tarp-like garment and pulled her away from the course so the competition could continue.

According to the team spokesman, O’Brien — the third of four American skiers to not finish Monday’s two-run race — was transported away from the venue with team medical staff for further evaluation.

Sweden’s Sara Hector won the giant slalom with a combined time of 1min 55.69sec, with Italy’s Federica Brignone and Swiss world champion Lara Gut-Behrami taking silver and bronze respectively.

The Beijing Games have been rocked by a number of brutal crashes, with the artificial snow wreaking havoc for many competitors.

With very little snowfall across the mountainous regions where the Games are being held, The Winter Olympics are the first in history to use almost 100 per cent artificial snow.

The conditions mean the snow is icier and wetter than athletes are used to competing on in natural snow, which goes a long way to explaining many of the crashes.

with agencies

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