Featured Image Credit: DeFodi Images/Getty
Topics: News, World News, Olympics, Health
Kit Roberts
A speed skater at the Winter Olympics made a surprising post just a few hours before being injured in a race.
Kamila Sellier from Poland had her face sliced by an opponent's skate during the women's 1500 metre speed skating race.
The sport sees competitors reaching speeds of up 40mph as they rocket round the ice.
An illegal pass during the race saw Team USA's Kristen Santos-Griswold led her to falling, with her skate swinging out as she did so and slicing Sellier's face.
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The crash also involved Arianna Fontana of Italy, who has won 14 Olympic medals, and Santos-Griswold ended up being left out of the short-track skating semifinals following the crash.
Now it has emerged that Sellier had made a surprising post to her social media just a few hours before she was injured in the crash.
A post on the skater's Instagram page made a joke about the safety of the sport.
It started with Sellier sitting by the rink miming to an audio asking 'seriously? is this safe?'
The clip then cuts away to footage of speed skaters crashing as they hurtle round the rink, before returning back to Sellier as the audio says: "Yes, very safe. Fifty fifty."
Footage of the shocking crash shows the skating blade coming up and striking Sellier on her cheek, leaving a gash on her face just below her eye.
A spokesperson for Poland's Olympic team has since confirmed that she has had surgery after the shocking incident and appears to be doing well.
"Kamila had surgery last night," they said. "She's in good condition. We're waiting for further tests today, to check her eye for any signs of damage."
Many were left wondering whether her eye was injured in the crash, and the statement clarified that her eye appeared to be okay.
Konrad Niedźwiedzki is the speed skating chief for Poland, and shared concerns that Sellier's zygomatic facial bone was injured in the accident, and that she is still being reviewed by doctors.
He said: "There is considerable swelling, so it's hard to say at this point what else happened inside.
"I hope these are only superficial wounds, but we have to wait for the test results from the hospital. … There's a huge, large, not to cause panic, large swelling, so it is possible that this is related to the fact that the zygomatic bones has been damaged or broken."