LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Chinese snowboarder Liu Jiayu took a scary fall in Olympic halfpipe qualifying Wednesday and had to be carried off on a stretcher after landing hard on her left arm and shoulder, slamming her face and stomach to the ground then bending backward and somersaulting through the bottom of the pipe.
There was no immediate word from the Chinese team on Liu's status. The fall, which came after the 33-year-old Liu caught an edge while landing her final jump, stopped action on the halfpipe for about 10 minutes while medical personnel attended to her.
Liu was trying to finish her second and final run of qualifying with a 900-degree spin.
The board slammed flat onto the transition part of the pipe, but quickly caught an edge as it approached the flat part, slamming Liu violently forward while her legs and board snapped over her back — a wreck known in snowboarding parlance as a “Scorpion.”
America's Chloe Kim finished first in qualifying and will move on to Thursday night's final.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
China's Liu Jiayu crashes during the women's snowboarding halfpipe qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
China's Liu Jiayu is stretchered off after crashing during the women's snowboarding halfpipe qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
China's Liu Jiayu crashes during the women's snowboarding halfpipe qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration is closing the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days, grounding all flights to and from the airport.
A notice posted on the FAA's website said the temporary flight restrictions were for “special security reasons,” but did not provide additional details. The closure does not include Mexican airspace.
The airport said in an Instagram post that all flights to and from the airport would be grounded from late Tuesday through late on Feb. 20, including commercial, cargo and general aviation flights. It suggested travelers contact their airlines to get up-to-date flight information.
The shutdown is likely to create significant disruptions given the duration and the size of the metropolitan area. El Paso, a border city with a population of nearly 700,000 and larger when you include the surrounding metro area, is hub of cross-border commerce alongside neighboring Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes El Paso, urged the FAA to lift the restrictions in a statement Wednesday morning. There was no advance notice given to her office, the city of El Paso or airport operations, she said.
“The highly consequential decision by FAA to shut down the El Paso Airport for 10 days is unprecedented and has resulted in significant concern within the community,” Escobar said. “From what my office and I have been able to gather overnight and early this morning there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas.”
The airport describes itself as the gateway to west Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico. Southwest, United, American and Delta all operate flights there, among others.
A similar temporary flight restriction for special security reasons over the same time period was imposed around Santa Teresa, New Mexico, which is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of the El Paso airport.
Southwest Airlines said in a statement that it has paused all operations to and from El Paso at the direction of the FAA.
“We have notified affected customers and will share additional information as it becomes available,” Southwest Airlines said. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of its customers and employees.”
FILE - A Federal Aviation Administration sign hangs in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
