U.S. snowboarder Taylor Gold is sitting out the Olympic season due to recurring knee and shoulder injuries, his agent confirmed.
Gold, who was 14th at the Sochi Winter Games, was on the entry list for the first Olympic qualifier at Copper Mountain, Colo., this week but did not start.
“I’ve been advised that even with the rehab I’m at risk of further damaging both [my knee and shoulder],” was posted on Gold’s Instagram. “I do not feel like I can ride to the best of my ability and do not want to take the chance of permanently damaging my body, so I have made the decision to take this season off and focus on resolving these injuries so I can come back 100% in the 18/19 season.”
Gold qualified for Sochi along with younger sister Arielle. Arielle suffered an injury in practice before the Sochi Olympic halfpipe qualifying and was unable to compete.
Taylor Gold was third at last season’s Winter X Games won by Australian Scotty James.
Gold was one of four men on the 2014 Olympic halfpipe team.
The other three -- Shaun White, Danny Davis and Greg Bretz -- are competing at the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain this week to start Olympic qualifying.
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“This will not be my last Olympic run,” was posted on Gold’s Instagram, “and I look forward to coming back stronger than ever.”
NBC Olympics research Shawn Smith contributed to this report.
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