WHISTLER, British Columbia (AP) — Friends and family of Sarah Burke gathered in Whistler Village on Tuesday night to bid a farewell to the late freeskiing pioneer.
Burke, who was born in Ontario and lived in Squamish, died in January after a fall while training in the Superpipe at Park City, Utah. The 29-year-old sustained irreversible brain damage when one of the arteries to her brain ruptured.
Family, friends and fellow athletes held a private memorial on the Blackcomb Mountain earlier in the day at the halfpipe, a place Burke loved best.
Burke was the first woman to land a 720, then a 900, then a 1080-degree spin in competition. She was also instrumental in helping to get her sport into the Olympics for 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
