Gus Kenworthy Tumbles During ‘Tube of Terror’ Free Style at Beijing Olympics

Gus Kenworthy gave a sweet shout out to  his “mum” as he head off to the slopes for Olympic halfpipe finals. Kenworthy played for Great Britain this year “After skiing and competing professionally for the last 14 years this will be my last day in a bib. Win or lose this one’s for you, mum. ♥️????????9️⃣”

Yahoo: Freezing temperatures (-32 degrees Celsius) and high winds made conditions nearly impossible for even the best in the world, and many athletes paid the price.

Gus Kenworthy, a silver medalist at the 2014 Games in Sochi, had arguably the worst fall of the day, completely crumpling as he hit the top of the halfpipe.

.@guskenworthy is built different.

basically snapped backwards on the top of the halfpipe, got up, still threw in one more trick, incredible. #Beijing2022 #Halfpipe pic.twitter.com/YV315bLxvx

— Peter Hayes (@AtPeterHayes) February 19, 2022

The former American skier, who now competes for Great Britain, was able to continue the competition and landed a solid final run to finish in eighth place. But Kenworthy knows this wasn’t the finals that anyone wanted to see.

“I think most of the main guys have scaled their runs back,” Kenworthy told reporters after the event. “The top three were so impressive, their runs were so good. But they’re not the runs that they wanted to do coming out here. Everyone has had to adapt and modify … It’s a tough, tough day to do this.”

It is so cold and windy here at Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park that one of Radio Canada’s light stands just snapped and fell. Can’t imagine what it’s like for the athlete’s competing in the men’s freeski halfpipe #Olympics

— John Chidley-Hill (@jchidleyhill) February 19, 2022

Kenworthy was not the only one to voice displeasure when it came to the conditions, as commentators and fans were also shocked that the event was not postponed.

“A tube of terror” is what the commentators are calling this skiing halfpipe event right now.

Is this not borderline dangerous for the athletes at this point?

— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) February 19, 2022