Epic Ride Gear Blog

The Olympic snowboarding hopeful Kevin Pearce was in critical condition Thursday after sustaining a head injury during training in the halfpipe in Park City, Utah.

Pearce hit his head against the edge of the halfpipe and was knocked unconscious. He was flown to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where doctors planned external ventricular drainage to relieve fluid buildup in the brain, according to Pearce’s mother, Pia.

Pearce, a 22-year-old from Norwich, Vt., was among many of the world’s top halfpipe riders in Park City preparing to compete next week in a competition at Mammoth Mountain, Calif., an event that will serve as part of the Olympic trials.

Pearce, a favorite to make the United States Olympic team, is the rare rider who has beaten the 2006 Olympic gold medalist Shaun White in head-to-head competitions the past couple of years.

Mike Jankowski, the Olympic halfpipe coach for the United States, said that Pearce was injured while trying a double cork, a supremely difficult trick — essentially a twisting double back flip — that most of the top men are trying to add to their repertory this season.

“He did it a little too hard, put a little too much oomph into it, and over-rotated on his second flip,” Jankowski said.

He said that Pearce seemed to strike the edge of the pipe just above his eye. He said that the preliminary diagnosis was for a “significant concussion.” A team trainer and medical director were with Pearce at the hospital.

Pearce’s father is Simon Pearce, one of the most renowned glass blowers in the world, whose Vermont based company has retail outlets across the Northeast, including one on Park Avenue.