Freestyle skiing trailblazer Sarah Burke dies after Jan. 10 training accident

Canadian freeskier Sarah Burke died Thursday in a Salt Lake City hospital, nine days after crashing at the bottom of the superpipe during a training run in Utah. Burke, who lived near Whistler in British Columbia, was 29. She was injured Jan. 10 while training at a personal sponsor event at the Park City Mountain resort.
Tests revealed Burke suffered "irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest," according to a statement released by Burke's publicist, Nicole Wool.
Go here for the story and video from ESPN and here for Burke's Facebook page which is filling by the minute with personal messages from fans.

As a teenage moguls skier, Burke often sneaked onto the Snowboard halfpipe at the end of the day. She won first place in the 2001 US Freeskiing Open in the half-pipe event and finished second in slopestyle. She won the first ever world championship half-pipe event. Burke is also a four-time Winter X Games gold medalist in freestyle skiing. She was the first woman ever to land a jump with 1080-degree rotation in competition.
She won ESPN's 2001 Award for female skier of the year and was voted 2007's Best Female Action Sports Athlete at the ESPY awards.
She regularly participated in skiing films, including Propaganda, in which she showcased her skills by sliding huge rainbow rails, spinning a huge 540 in the pipe and throwing back-flips with ease.
Burke was a known promoter of the superpipe skiing event, working to have it added to the Olympic program. She failed to have the event added in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee to have the event added for the 2014 Sochi Games. Two years ahead of the games, she was considered a potential favourite for the gold medal in Sochi.