American Luke Winters suffered a hard fall in the opening moments of the men’s alpine slalom, skiing out and ending his bid for an Olympic medal. Winters was the sole member of Team USA to qualify for the event.
While visibly frustrated, Winters -- a first-time Olympian -- appeared to escape unscathed and in physically good condition.
Winters navigated the first set of poles smoothly before getting tripped up on a royal flush, or series of gates lined up tightly in a row, causing him to ski out to the boundary gate. Skiing out in the opening run of slalom automatically disqualifies athletes from competing in any subsequent rounds.
Winters was one of 34 men to not finish the course in the first run.
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