Freestyle-World champion Melville Ives crashes out of halfpipe qualifiers

LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 20 - New Zealand's Fin Melville Ives crashed badly from a mid-air flip on Friday and had to be stretchered away from the Winter Olympics men's freestyle skiing halfpipe qualifiers, ruling out one of the top medal hopefuls.

The 19-year-old current halfpipe world champion fell on both qualification runs, but more seriously on the second, when he landed heavily from a jump, bumping his head and sliding to a halt with one leg bent at the knee.

"He took a big hit, didn't he? We all saw that," New Zealand Head Coach Tom Willmott said in a statement.

"He's knocked out, but he's conscious right now. He's talking. He's doing OK; he's getting full checks, scans, x-rays, all the rest of it just to fully rule anything out. But yeah, I can let you know he's doing OK."

Medics at the alpine resort of Livigno intervened quickly, while spectators fell silent for several tense minutes before Melville Ives was taken away, accompanied by his mother who was among the crowd.

'BEST PIPE SKIER IN THE WORLD, PERIOD'

Teen sensation Melville Ives came to his first Olympics at Milano Cortina after winning the world championship on his first attempt in 2025 and fresh from a superpipe gold at the X Games last month.

"I'm honestly devastated for him because I think Fin is the best pipe skier in the world right now, period," Britain's Gus Kenworthy said.

Kenworthy, one of the 12 freeskiers who advanced to the halfpipe final, said it was really hard to see Melville Ives' teammates crying after the accident.

"I know that he's got plenty more Olympics in him," he added. "I have zero doubt that he'll come back and get Olympic gold or something."

The final is due to take place at 1830 GMT, with Americans Alex Ferreira, Nick Goepper and Hunter Hess and Canada's Brendan Mackay among the top contenders.

New Zealand will be represented by Ben Harrington, who dedicated his own qualification to his unlucky teammate.

"If you’re listening, that one was for you brother, putting you and New Zealand on my back.” REUTERS