Snowboarder I-Pod breaks nose again in halfpipe comeback

Published Dec. 21, 2018 10:22 a.m. ET

BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Former Olympic champion Iouri Podladtchikov has broken his nose again after crashing in a snowboard halfpipe World Cup comeback.

Switzerland's ski federation says in a statement that Podladtchikov also sustained a concussion in the heavy fall at the Secret Garden event in China on Friday.

Footage of the fall showed the 30-year-old snowboarder — known as I-Pod — catch the top edge of the halfpipe with his board. His face then struck the hard snow.

The Swiss team says Podladtchikov will have further medical tests in Switzerland.

The Russia-born Swiss also broke his nose at the Winter X Games in Colorado in January.

Though he traveled to the Pyeongchang Olympics, Podladtchikov did not defend the halfpipe title he won at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games where two-time defending champion Shaun White of the United States was fourth.