Caleb Moore (AP)
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DENVER — Caleb Moore, an innovative freestyle snowmobile rider who was hurt in a dramatic crash at the Winter X Games in Colorado, died yesterday.
Moore, 25, had been staying at a hospital in Grand Junction since the crash in Aspen one week before. Family spokeswoman Chelsea Lawson confirmed his death.
A former all-terrain vehicle racer, Moore switched over to snowmobiles as a teenager and didn’t take long to rise to the top of his sport. He won four Winter X Games medals, including a bronze last season when his younger brother, Colten, won gold.
Caleb Moore was attempting a backflip Jan. 24 in the freestyle event when the skis on his 450-pound snowmobile caught the lip of the landing area, sending him flying over the handlebars. Moore landed face first into the snow with his snowmobile rolling over him.
Moore stayed down for quite some time, before walking off with help and going to a hospital to treat a concussion. Moore developed bleeding around his heart and was flown to a hospital in Grand Junction for surgery. The family later said that Moore, of Krum, Texas, also had a complication involving his brain.
Colten Moore also was injured in a crash that same night. He suffered a separated pelvis.
B.C. Vaught, Caleb Moore’s agent for almost a decade, said he first saw Moore when he was racing an ATV in Minnesota and signed him up to star in some action sports movies.
Later, Moore wanted to make the switch from ATVs to snowmobiles and asked Vaught to show him how to do a backflip. In two weeks, Moore mastered the difficult maneuver.
X Games officials said in a statement that they would conduct a thorough review of snowmobiling events and adopt any appropriate changes.