Olympic skier crashes into cameraman (PHOTOS)
Finnish freestyle skier Jon Sallinen stole the show in the men’s halfpipe qualifying competition in Beijing – not because of his insane tricks, but thanks to a dangerous collision with a cameraman whom he hit during his run.
The athlete was halfway through when he lost control on the left lip of the pipe, pushing himself too far off the wall and causing his ski to clip the cameraman, who was standing close to the edge to capture the competition’s best moments.
The Finnish athlete crashed into the operator. knocking the equipment out of his hands.
The bizarre moment was caught on camera and widely shared on social media, making Sallinen the most-mentioned athlete from the halfpipe qualifying event.
The Finnish contender came out of the incident unscathed, skiing safely back down the pipe.
The cameraman also avoided serious injury, looking relatively unharmed following the crash.
Sallinen scored just 18.00 for the run and could not redeem himself during his second attempt, earning a mere 18.50 points.
This saw him finishing last out of 23 contenders and exit the competition, while the best 12 athletes advanced to the final.
