Olympic snowboarding gold medalist Iouri Podladtchikov suffered a concussion and broken nose in a crash at his comeback halfpipe event in China on Friday, according to the Swiss federation.
Podladtchikov, the 2014 Olympic champion, fell on a backside 900 when his board landed mostly on the lip of the 22-foot pipe, according to NBC Sports’ Tina Dixon. His head smacked against the wall on the way down, snapping his goggle lens off.
Medics tended to Podladtchikov for five minutes before he was taken out from the bottom of the halfpipe on a sled.
The 30-year-old rider known as iPod missed the PyeongChang Olympics after suffering a traumatic brain injury and cerebral hemorrhages in a Jan. 28 crash at the Winter X Games.
This week’s World Cup in Secret Garden, China, marked his first contest in 11 months.
Podladtchikov won the Sochi Olympic halfpipe title by throwing his signature “YOLO flip,” a cab double cork 1440, on a halfpipe that received criticism from other riders for its condition.
Rival Shaun White was fourth in Sochi, then earned his third gold in PyeongChang in Podladtchikov’s absence. White is taking an entire season off from snowboard contests for the first time in his near-two-decade career.
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