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Australia’s Olympic team has been rocked with Cam Bolton airlifted to Milan after breaking his neck in training, ending the veteran snowboarder’s Winter Games campaign.
Competing at his fourth Olympics, the 35-year-old suffered a crash on Monday while training for the snowboard cross event but woke up with worsening pain in his neck the following day.
He was taken for scans, which revealed two fractures, and then transported from the mountain by helicopter with a team official for further treatment.
Team chef de mission Alisa Camplin said the popular Bolton was in good spirits despite the seriousness of the injury and had been joined by his wife.
“Cam wanted to make his teammates understood what was happening and that he was fine and doing well and being looked after well,” she said in Livigno.
“He knows how seriously we’re taking the process of support around him and the communication has been really good. I’m proud of the level of care.”
It is the fourth injury to strike the Australian team, with aerials medal favourite Laura Peel injuring her knee at a pre-Olympics training camp, while young freeskier Daisy Thomas also suffered a knee injury in a fall.
Snowboard halfpipe Olympian Misaki Vaughan was also ruled out of making her debut after failing a HIA, hitting head while training on Monday.
Under the team’s head injury protocols, the 20-year-old can’t participate for a minimum of seven days.
While Thomas withdrew from slopestyle, she is hopeful of competing in the big air while four-time Olympian Peel hasn’t given up hope of landing an elusive medal.
“Unfortunately with winter sport injuries happen along the way, in 53 athletes doing relatively high risk sports it’s not something that’s unusual I’m afraid to say,” said Camplin, who won an aerials gold medal in Salt Lake City in 2022 skiing on two fractured ankles.
“My heart breaks on their behalf – I know how much work goes into an Olympic dream.”
Camplin said the two-time world champion Peel continued to “make progress”.
“Our aerials team haven’t even arrived yet so we don’t need to rush her,” she said.
Bolton was the highest-placed Australian men’s snowboard cross rider in Beijing in 13th place, while he also finished ninth in the first ever team event alongside Belle Brockhoff, whose own career was ended by serious injury.
He was due to line up in the men’s seeding round on Thursday morning in Livigno with the opening round getting underway later that day and has been replaced by debutant James Johnstone.
