Levi LaVallee and Daniel Bodin to miss Winter X Games 16
Levi LaVallee and Daniel Bodin of Team LaVallee freestyle team will not be competing at the upcoming Winter X Games 16, which is scheduled to go down in Aspen, Colorado, in the final week of January, due to injuries sustained in separate training session.
The American snowmobile rider LaVallee ended up with a broken tibia in his left leg after the training incident, whereas another training session saw Sweden’s Bodin sustain a fractured vertebra. Fortunately, the latter did not suffer any spinal cord, thus
completely retaining his ability to move.
The initial report about the condition of the two athletes was revealed in a press release by Team LaVallee Inc. It further went on to state that both the riders are expected to make a complete recovery, highlighting the fact that while the injuries were
serious enough to force the two Team LaVallee freestyle teammates out of the upcoming winter action sports mega-event, they were not career threatening.
The 29-year-old LaVallee conceded that he was looking forward to competing at Aspen and was pretty disappointed with sustaining injuries at such a crucial time.
“I'm super bummed about Daniel and I getting hurt. I was riding on a high after my record distance jump on New Year's Eve and was pumped for Winter X. And Daniel was working hard to defend his gold medals from last year. I love our sport but it can be cruel
sometimes. We will both be back as soon as possible,” said LaVallee.
The Minnesota-based rider was failing to make an appearance in Winter X Games for the second year in a row. He had been forced out of last year’s event after suffering injuries while preparing to perform a record-breaking distance jump at Red Bull: “New
Year. No Limits” in December, 2010.
Bodin, on the other hand, had stolen the show during the freestyle and best trick snowmobile competitions in Winter X Games 15, walking away with two gold medals. However, he will be unable to defend his medals this year due to the unfortunate injury that
is expected to keep him out of action for at least two weeks.
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