Australia’s Cam Bolton broke his neck in the terrifying crash (Image: Getty)

Winter Olympics star Cameron Bolton broke his neck in a horrifying crash in training before his scheduled snowboard event in Milan. The 35-year-old was due to compete in his fourth Winter Olympics, but his Games came to a bitter end after being airlifted to the hospital on Monday following his crash, suffering two fractures in his neck.

The Australian suffered the injury during the cross event training on Monday, but after waking up on Tuesday feeling pain in his neck, he was rushed to the hospital, where a broken neck was discovered. Olympian Bolton traveled with a representative from the Australian delegation. Team chef de mission Alisa Camplin said the athlete is receiving proper support and that his wife has since joined him.

“Cam wanted to make sure his team-mates understood what was happening and that he was fine and doing well and being looked after well. He knows how seriously we’re taking the process of support around him and the communication has been really good. I’m proud of the level of care,” she said. It comes after aNBC broadcaster’s damning hot mic comments were picked up during live broadcast.

Bolton’s setback wasn’t the only one to rock the Aussie camp. Aerials contender Laura Peel suffered a knee injury during a pre-Games training camp, while snowboarder Misaka Vaughan was withdrawn after a head knock in training. Freeskier Daisy Thomas also went down with a knee injury following a fall.

It’s not the only horror injury sustained at the Winter Olympics. Legendary skier Lindsey Vonn was airlifted to the hospital over the weekend after crashing out in her gold medal run.

The snowboarder was due to compete in his fourth Olympics (Image: Getty)

Vonn, 41, regarded as one of, if not the best, women’s skier of all time, competed at the Winter Olympics despite recently suffering an ACL injury. However, Vonn revealed that the ACL setback wasn’t the cause of her brutal crash that left her with a broken leg.

“It wasn’t a story book ending or a fairy tail [sic], it was just life,” she wrote. “I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it.”

Vonn went on to describe the razor-thin margins in downhill skiing, noting how quickly things can unravel. “Because in Downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches,” she wrote.

“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash.”

She also pushed back on speculation that a prior knee issue played a role. “My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever,” Vonn said.

It’s unclear whether Vonn will continue. Vonn already performed a retirement U-turn in 2024 after initially walking away in 2019.

It came as Mike Tyson sent a controversial message to the White House during the Super Bowl.

Source: https://www.the-express.com/sport/other-sport/198833/winter-olympics-cameron-bolton-australia-breaks-neck?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D