Star skier Sarah Burke critical after crash SALT LAKE CITY - Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke was in critical condition Wednesday, a day after she was airlifted from the mountains of Utah to a Salt Lake City hospital with injuries after a training accident in the superpipe. In a statement released by Burke's publicist, a doctor at University of Utah hospital says Burke "sustained serious injuries and remains intubated and sedated in critical condition." Chris Nelson, assistant vice president for public affairs at the hospital, said Burke was having surgery Wednesday afternoon. "She not only gave the sport legitimacy but opened the door into a much broader spectrum," said Peter Judge, the CEO of Canada's freestyle skiing program. Burke fell while training at a personal sponsor event at the Park City Mountain resort, an accident that witnesses said didn't look as bad as it turned out to be, Judge said. She was on the same halfpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered traumatic brain injury after a near-fatal fall on Dec. 31, 2009. Burke's husband, freestyle skier Rory Bushfield, was with other family members at the hospital. "Sarah is a very strong young woman, and she will most certainly fight to recover," Bushfield said in a statement.