VAIL – Edwards snowboarder Jack Coyne, and his many friends and supporters in Eagle County, went from elation to misery in a matter of minutes this week.
About a half hour after learning he had earned an invite into both the slopestyle and halfpipe competitions at the Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships on Tuesday, Coyne attmepted a switch crippler off the side hit on the slopestyle course, went bigger than expected, over-rotated and landed hard on his left wrist.
Coyne, 17, would have been the only snowboarder to compete in both halfpipe and slopestyle at the Burton US Open this year.
“It was such a bummer,” said Coyne’s friend and fellow Ski & Snowboard Club Vail athlete, David Retzlaff. “To see that happen to one of your best friends and teammates.”
The celebration part of Coyne’s day was equally shared with Retzlaff, as both local snowboarders were alternates in the slopestyle competition, and both received word they had made it at about the same time on Tuesday.
“We found out that we both got spots, and it was the best feeling in the world,” Retzlaff said. “So when he fell we were just so bummed.”
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Coyne went in for surgery right away at the Steadman Clinic with Dr. Viola.
Jack’s father John Coyne said Jack is looking forward to a fast recovery.
“They say he should be able to do what he wants physically in six weeks,” John Coyne said.