American Emily Sweeney Walks Away From a Terrifying Luge Crash in Pyeongchang

Sweeney wound up sliding feet-first up one curve toward the track roof before getting thrown from her sled and eventually tumbling to a stop.

Despite remaining down on the ice for several minutes after the crash she was able to walk off the track under her own power.

South Korea had been Sweeney's first Winter Olympics appearance after she narrowly missed out on going to the Vancouver games in 2010 - losing the final spot on the team to her older sister Megan.

Sweeney, 24, was on her fourth run when she tumbled down the track at turn No. 9 and crashed.

After the crash, the luge competition was temporarily halted as medical professionals rushed in to check on Emily Sweeney, who was conscious and aware, though still not standing yet.

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Sweeney's crash on her final run certainly looked bad.

"I'm OK", she told reporters in the mixed zone. She went to the hospital as precautionary meas. "Thank you all so much for the supportive messages". I'm very stiff, but my x-rays came back clean. Yeah, it's a bummer, for sure, and I know I'm better than that, but here we are.

Curve 9 has been a problem for sliders throughout the early portion of the Olympics, causing many to skid, lose control and lose some time.

Later in the final run, Summer Britcher of the United States lost control at the start and collided with some walls - but got down the track without crashing or incurring serious injury. According to the Associated Press, track workers tweaked the curve in the past year to make it a little more manageable.