AN AMERICAN skier suffered a heartbreaking horror smash in the halfpipe extending his terrible run of bad luck.
Olympian Torin Yater-Wallace, 22, had already overcome family tragedy, a life-threatening mystery illness and horror injuries to be at the Games.
He had already fallen once and was attempting one of his complex tricks in his second run before he misjudged his landing.
Yater-Wallace came down hard on the slope and was sent into the middle of the pipe where he looked to be in serious pain.
The on-site paramedics went running down to tend to him but he was back up and made his own way to the finish line.
Fellow American David Wise went on to defend his Olympic title after completing all four double corks on his run.
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Colorado native Yater-Wallace began skiing at at the age of two before his life was thrown into turmoil during his middle school years when his dad was arrested for fraud involving a wine-selling scam.
The father, Ron Wallace, was forced to pay over £7million in restitution and was sentenced to five years probation in 2007 but ended up serving time for violations.
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That led to his family being left near-penniless with his mother having to rely on food stamps and take on multiple jobs to support her son’s dreams.
He went on to become an X-Games champion at the age of 15 before more turmoil hit his life ahead of the 2014 Sochi Games.
In 2013, his lung collapsed after it was punctured in a dry-needling session carried out by a physical therapist.
After surgery to repair the lung, he was released on his 18th birthday when he attempted to return to competition but injured his lung again in a crash.
Yater-Wallace managed to make the 2014 Games and admitted he was just grateful to be able to compete after finishing 26th.
Then in November 2015, doctors told Yater-Wallace he had a common cold or flu when he had a mystery illness.
He returned to the hospital for a third time where he woke up ten days later after being put in an induced state of paralysis.
Yater-Wallace was diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection called streptococcus anginus that caused his lungs and liver to fill with fluid.
He lost 25lbs and took three months to recover before getting back on the slopes and regaining his strength and skills in 2016.
Yater-Wallace was not even 100 per cent fit for Pyeongchang after aggravating a persistent foot problem in the weeks leading up to the event.
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