Next week's Denver Big Air show in Civic Center most likely lost a marquee name Wednesday, as freeskier Tom Wallisch learned he has a fractured left shoulder blade. The Pittsburgh native and Salt Lake City resident recently was named Freeskier magazine's skier of the year.
"I have one shoulder blade that's in half, broken in half," Wallisch said an hour after his distressing doctor's visit. "I took a fall at Park City about two and a half weeks ago and didn't really think anything of it.
"It hurt, but part of our line of work is falling on jumps and rails all the time."
Wallisch was looking forward to the Big Air event next Tuesday and Wednesday, and to the Winter X Games in Aspen (Jan. 27-30).
"The event itself is really cool and something that I find super awesome," Wallisch said of the Denver event. "I won't be doing the X Games as well, which is pretty much the highlight of my year, so it's pretty dis-appointing news."
Wallisch's agent, Tom Yaps, said Wallisch will get a second opinion today at the U.S. Ski Team's Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah.
"If they confirm that it's a deep-fractured shoulder, then yeah, he probably won't compete," Yaps said. "I'm hopeful that we get some different news, although I'm not optimistic. He's incredibly bummed out right now."
Read more: Marquee skier Tom Wallisch pulls out of Denver Big Air - The Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_17140123#ixzz1BbHQnVNJ
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