The 62 stitches snowboarder Shaun White needed last fall came from a crash in which his face slammed on the lip of the halfpipe in New Zealand.
In footage of the crash and its aftermath, which were published by Yahoo Sports on Wednesday, White is bleeding heavily from his face into a towel and dripping onto the snow. White cut his forehead, nose and appears to have split his upper lip in the video.In the hospital the day after, White said in the video, “I scared myself. I haven’t really had that much blood coming out of me before.”
White, 31, crashed while training in Cardrona, New Zealand, in October. It was his second of the season after a September crash in practice sent him to the hospital. At the time, he posted that nothing was broken but doctors advised him to take some time off.
“My health is great, honestly,” White told USA TODAY Sports last month at the Dew Tour. “The injuries were, I don’t want to say superficial because they were definitely jarring more mentally than physically, I think. As far as my ability to go ride, I’m good. But having to wake up and look in the mirror and I have this big scar on my forehead and stuff, it’s definitely not fun. It’s a reminder.”
White is trying to qualify for his fourth Olympic team. He finished third overall and as the second American at the first qualifying event last month before missing the Dew Tour final.
Riders need a top-three finish to make the U.S. team. But given the depth of the American field, more riders are likely to do that than there are spots, so they’ll qualify based on their top two results.
Two more qualifying events remain this month at Snowmass, Colo., and Mammoth Mountain, Calif.
PHOTOS: Shaun White
