Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke remains in critical condition in a Salt Lake City hospital after a successful surgery, but her doctor says it's too soon to predict her recovery.
The 29-year-old was airlifted from Park City, Utah to Salt Lake City after suffering a head injury during a crash in a superpipe training run Tuesday.
Burke underwent successful surgery Wednesday afternoon to repair a tear to her vertebral artery -- a major vessel that supplies blood to the brain -- which had caused an intracranial hemorrhage at the time of her injury.
"With injuries of this type, we need to observe the course of her brain function before making definitive pronouncements about Sarah's prognosis for recovery," her surgeon, Dr. William Couldwell, professor and chair of neurosurgery at the University of Utah, said in a statement Thursday.
Earlier, she had been placed in a medically-induced coma, to allow the swelling in her brain to go down.
Burke is a native of Midland, Ont. who now lives in Squamish, B.C. She was training with a private group when the accident happened.
Burke, a four-time Winter-X champion, is considered a pioneer for her sport after she lobbied to get the superpipe included in the Winter Olympics. It is set to debut in the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
Superpipe is essentially the halfpipe, but on a course for skis.
"Sarah in many ways defines the sport," Canadian Freestyle Ski Association CEO Peter Judge told reporters in a Wednesday conference call.
Burke's family said they are grateful for the support they received from around the globe and asked people to continue to send messages of support to Burke's Facebook page.
Burke's husband, Rory Bushfield, and other family, are with her in Utah.
"Sarah is a very strong young woman and she will most certainly fight to recover," Bushfield said in a statement Wednesday.
The course where Burke was hurt was also the site of a December 2009 crash in which U.S. snowboarder Kevin Pearce struck his head and suffered critical brain injuries.
