Winter Olympics: Aussie teen, Ally Hickman, suffers heartbreaking fall in snowboard thriller
Teenage Australian snowboarder Ally Hickman has been taken for scans following a heavy fall in the women’s slopestyle Olympic final.
Ally Hickman has suffered a bruised sternum after the Australian snowboarding teen took a nasty fall in the women’s slopestyle Olympic final, where she still finished an admirable seventh.
Aged just 16, the Sydney schoolgirl was in fourth spot after the first of three runs in the final at Livigno Snow Park on Wednesday, awarded a score of 67.70 for her performance navigating three rails and three jumps down the mountain course.
But the Olympic debutant fell during her second run, injuring her sternum, and was unable to improve on her score.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.While she was cleared to compete in her third run, she had a further fall at the last jump which again jarred the injury.
“As a result, she has been taken to the Olympic Village polyclinic for precautionary imaging,” the Australian Olympic team said in a statement, before reporting later: “Ally has a diagnosis of a bruised sternum.
“She has had x-rays to exclude a fracture of her sternum and ultrasound to exclude other abdominal and chest injuries.”
Hickman was the only Australian to make the top-12 final with Beijing bronze medallist Tess Coady missing the cut.
New Zealand’s defending champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott ended up being denied another gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Games by a Japanese rider, but this time it was Mari Fukada.
After a 24-hour delay due to a heavy snowfall, the event was decided in a thrilling final round.
Sadowski-Synnott went all out to land a score of 87.48 but was pipped by Fukada, who took gold with 87.83 points.
Her compatriot Kokomo Murase, who beat Sadowski-Synnott to top spot in the big air event last week, collected bronze with 85.80.
Only 24, Sadowski-Synnott has become the most decorated snowboarder in Olympic Winter Games history, with five medals - one gold, three silver and a bronze - which was astonishing news for the Kiwi.
“Someone told me that after I got given this medal. I couldn’t have even believed that that was a possibility when I was a kid, so it’s pretty special,” she said.
“Coming into these Olympics, there’s been a lot of expectation, but most of it has really been from myself because I’m a perfectionist. I have really high standards of myself.
“The last two years hasn’t really been easy with an ankle injury and then some bone-bruising coming into this season, so I’m pretty grateful to be standing here today with another Olympic medal.”
