Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff quits ahead of Winter Olympics

Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff announced her retirement Friday just weeks away from the Winter Olympics with a series of major injuries forcing her out.

The three-time Olympian came fourth in snowboard cross at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 33-year-old was hoping to again compete at Milan-Cortina in February.

But she suffered a gruesome fracture of her wrist in late 2024, then crashed heavily at the end of a World Cup race in Georgia in March last year.

That incident saw her airlifted to hospital with pins and rods inserted into her back for a fractured vertebra.

"I've been rehabbing a complicated compound fracture in my wrist and a fractured L1 vertebra in my spine," Brockhoff said on Instagram.

"I've rehabbed and trained hard for many months, and I know my body's limits. 

"It is with this and more than 20 years of snowboarding that I know in my heart it is time to step away from competitive racing."