Tom Van Steenbergen was on a heater of a run today after front flipping off his massive drop, a stunt that earned him the coveted Best Trick Award. After stomping the trick, he went deep on a back flip on the following step down and took a heavy crash.
Medics immediately surrounded him and quickly took him off location on a spine board.
Now, he has posted an update from the hospital on his multiple injuries, which include breaking his left and right hip sockets into multiple pieces, breaking a piece off the top of his femur, breaking a piece of his lower vertebrae, and separating his shoulder.
 | Quick update. I’ve received hundreds of amazing messages from you guys, and I wanna thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
I’ve broken my left and right hip sockets into multiple pieces, a piece off the top of my femur, and a piece of my lower vertebrae. Unfortunately I separated the same shoulder I just healed as well.
Feeling extremely lucky to be able to make a full recovery after that horrible slam.
Going in for a long surgery tomorrow. I’ll keep you guys posted.
- Much love.—Tom Van Steenbergen |
We're gutted to see such an extensive list of injuries. We've seen Tom come back from big injuries before and we really hope that everything will go well with surgery tomorrow and with the upcoming recovery.
The consequences are so high. We don’t need to be entertained this way at that cost.
The riders should get together and decide how they want the event to look going forward.
As gnarly as it is they know full well what they are getting into and choose to do so. No different to and F1 or moto GP driver.
Man I know if I was I had the skills to compete at this level I’d be there like a shot.
Fair play to TVS, that was an insane run, I’d rather he made it to the bottom and in full health but it wasn’t his day. Healing vibes brother hope you make a full recovery!
Can’t have progression without failure. Tom has had several bad injuries and I don’t believe any of the others were at events.
Have you ever heard of F1/GP rider having to start a GoFundMe page or other forms of gathering money to pay for medical bills?
Financially, it's a whole different world!
I think the difference is the pressure on live TV with so many watching leads to bad decisions. If I see someone try a trick because they want to and they get hurt doing what they love, so be it. We all love a dangerous sport right? But this format makes you feel like a group of friends that pressures a buddy to try something that they might have skipped only to watch them get mangled.
Kinda sounds like you just invented the FEST series, which we then sh!t all over because it wasn't exactly what we wanted.
All of the Rampage shredders don’t need another reason to go all in for a lucrative purse.
Recognition from the biking community and their piers, possible endorsement and sponsorship but more so being part of pushing the sport is what they’re in Rampage for. It’s never been about the money and we all know that.
We also know that all of these phenomenal performances should be rewarded accordingly. If it would cost each of us $1.00 to watch Rampage, put it into a pot and divide it among ALL of these guys showing up, it would be a sign of gratitude from us to them.
Good luck Tom and thank you to everyone at Rampage for killing it!
I'm not a fan of Fox news, but here's an interesting article about the original bad ass, Evel Knievel.
www.foxnews.com/story/1970s-cultural-icon-evel-knievel-living-in-constant-pain
I really hope that the answer on why they expose themselves to this will be: Cause they want to, cause they love what they are doing and not because: That's a whole lot of money.....
Doesn't mean that I don't feel like freeriders shouldn't earn more money... but if it has to come from somewhere, top up there yearly salaries if they perform creating content, repping brands, etc... Not a win everything or die Rampage format...
www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2021/10/13/jmr-2-taken-to-hospital-following-separate-incidents-at-red-bull-rampage-venue-in-virgin/#.YWsuSdrRaf0
A lot of these guys learned to ride pre-instagram, they weren’t constantly bombarded with ‘sick edits’ and they weren’t trying to outdoor the next guy for likes/views etc…
Progression over income still remains a priority with many top tier athletes.
exactly how I feel. I stopped watching after paul's crash, and it was a mistake to tune in again. I don't want to see people get hurt. all the best to tom, I hope he makes a full recovery
. Especially when the weather changes... I can only imagine what some of these guys will feel.
I don’t see why it’s a negative thing to acknowledge the sacrifice of personal safety to try and achieve something spectacular.
So many people make comments like “Oh your gonna hurt when your older” this and that. Look at Cam Zink, your telling me that guy isn’t hurting every day? So if that’s the case, then why does he still do it? It’s the pursuit of something bigger. Sure most of us can go through our lives and avoid injury, and never experience greatness. Rampage is a place where legends are born.
We give Semenuk, Sorge, and Boggs praise because they stomped a clean run. Great, I think that’s amazing. What else is amazing, is the athletes that get injured in the sport they love, and despite this, they continue to push the limits of what’s humanly possible.
So while you think I’m after a crash highlight reel, I am in fact supporting the riders who are truly pushing the limit. The flat drop front flip was legendary, and the crash that followed was gnarly, and I think it’s only fair to recognize what Tom achieved was badass, rather than seeing a 0 on the scoreboard for an incomplete run, his attempt should be celebrated.
Except you are looking at 40-60 years in pain with limited function if you destroy your body in your 20’s. That’s a very long time.
I hear that man.. Im in the same boat.. At the point where I've even learned to enjoy road and gravel grinding on the cyclocross.. Stretching and resistance training just to keep the old injuries at bay... It all helps but your never 100% again really.
If life could somehow evenly distribute wisdom and youthful enthusiasm we'd all be happier. On the backside of two significant life-altering crashes whenever I hear, "well at least he/she got wadded up doing what they loved" I just shake my head, because at some point its not true, its better to walk normally or not be in pain, or be alive and not dead. But I can't expect the balance of the world's 20-somethings to understand this, yet.
One thing we know is that most of us are not too much in a hurry to find out....but we all will. Exciting or scary?
Peace
I watched Rampage for the last ~10years and this year I decided I´ll never watch again. Please @redbull, think about what your are promoting and will happen if any athlete actually dies. Will you be there for TvS or any severely injured rider in the future? There will be horrendous medical bills, maybe for the rest of an athletes life, and propably an everlasting impairment.
The shoulder is the only part of the injuries that seems to match the OTB impact and makes me wonder if his hip sockets and femoral injury were on the initial compression (landing) before he got bucked.
Either way I'm hoping for miraculous recovery for TVS who has proven before he's superhuman.
I’m an ortho MD and you’re right most classical acetabular fractures or femoral dislocations like those in motor vehicle collisions happen either when the knee hits the dashboard or the person has their foot on the brake. The position of the hip at the time of impact results in certain types of fracture patterns. However, there are multiple positions the hip can be in… extended, flexed, internally or externally rotated and this would result in a different fracture pattern. A CT scan would give us a clue as to the mechanism of injury, but what we ultimately see is people don’t follow the textbook and all sorts of things can happen, as in this case. I would venture to guess that as he impacted the ground is where it shattered into multiple fragments.
All the best to TVS.
I'm not a doctor, but I have some ER docs as friends, and one of them said of hip injuries: "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy." And that was related to hip dislocations, as described they take a ton of force to actually occur. The fact that he broke the sockets into pieces... holy hell.
I hope he's able to make a full recovery, but good lord I fear it will be a hard path...
RBR is the worst kind of dumb shit for the mob. PB shouldn't even bother reporting on it
He just wanted to send the biggest run he was capable of laying down.
These boys don’t do this for our entertainment they do it to push them selves and the sport.
If here was no cameras / prize money they’d still be out there sending it
This injury is still super heavy, and life-threatening as a two sided pelvic injury, but damn am I happy it’s not spinal!
[I’m fused at t2-t8 and luckily very functional]
Cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacrum, coccyx
www.google.com/search?q=spine+anatomy&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS873US874&oq=spine+&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l3.4590j0j7&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=URTd9_DQLSZQFM
jesus
Nowadays they build this huge slope style jumps with huge, ultra smooth landings. Takes them days to build those, all the time compacting the dirt, watering it, compacting it again, ending up with something smooth as concrete - and just as hard and unforgiving.
Locals used to jump off these rocks, landing a few meters below and laughing their ass off, because the sand just gave way, and they didn’t hurt themselves. I think that was part of what made that region attractive as a rampage site in the first place. Taking unlikely drops wherever possible and getting away with it.
Now it’s about back(and front)flipping giant man made obstacles, and nobody gets away anymore if they make a mistake.
And as many point out, manicured landings are safer when compared to raw landings on same sized features. But as they are safer, they encourage riders to go bigger, giving a false sense of security. But when something goes wrong, you can't cheat physics - a crash on a bigger feature will be more dangerous than in a small one.
The reason rampage is held where it is because you don't find geography anything like that anywhere in the world. There are almost no plants to clear or avoid and just about every single cliff is doable because they're is a slope on the other side.
Every body keeps talking about Rampage without actually being there and experiencing the terrain. I hate to gate keep, but if you haven't been to Virgin, people shouldn't be taking about the terrain.
Was it worth it?
If there's one thing I've learned being a doctor, it's that you hardly ever say 100% in medicine.
Give the guy some time, he might surprise you.
Paul Bas was not supposed to ride again and yet - he does (e-bike or not, he rides bikes again, there were even some vids of him jumping).
Bulldog - racing again, at the very top level.
Dan Atherton, most probably Gee - not yet, but he's on his way. T-Mac - competing at the top after a nasty dragging injury. Just a few examples off the top of my head.
Sure, not all of them came back to what they did before, but with Tom it's just too early to say. Give it time. All these guys are beasts, and the very best patients when it comes to rehabilitation. They always do absolutely anything to get back to full strength, and they usually do it faster than most patients.
So, Tom, if you're reading this: get well, take all the time you need, YOU GOT THIS.
A year has passed, and look who's competing in Rampage 2022... Oh yeah, it's Tom Van Steenbergen!
I guess sometimes it IS better to keep your opinion to yourself
Also some of TVS’s injuries may cause him issues for the rest of his life so who covers the costs of ongoing treatment or medication if it’s required?
We’ve sadly seen what dealing with long term pain and injuries can lead to for some in the past,
Do an article on these questions please PB.
Was this year more dangerous because the zone/venue had been used before and every one felt they had to go bigger than anything previously done in this zone? I can't recall in previous years so many riders after the run speak to how terrifying it was.
I don’t like the esthetic of a front flip but the commitment this trick requires is crazy.
And doing this from a blind cliff on one of the biggest drop of the site is just amazing !
It was perfectly realised and in my opinion It was by far the biggest and most dangerous trick ever done at rampage !
Legend !
Yeah, maybe these guys go big all year long anyway,, but the argument that they're doing it anyway is not valid. This is their job, and people aren't supposed to work for free, even when they love what they do. Glory and satisfaction is secondary. These are world class athletes at the very top of extreme form of this sport.. These guys aren't trustafarians, and they shouldn't be working for free - or risking their lives - or future quality of life for free.
Watched the stream with my brother and we were already super nervous during the caveman drop attempts…I was convinced that it was the better decision not doing it..
Seeing him go down like this after that insane run was heartbreaking.
All the best & get well soon
It’s not hard to lie broken in a hospital bed after being on a pinnacle and see oneself there again as though nothing happened. Fact is, injuries this severe take a toll on performance and create disability. Yes, my bedside manner sucks. Being in the bed will do that to ya.
I’ve enjoyed watching RBR over the years but I feel the risk level this year was just insane! Red Bull needs to do something to dial down the danger factor before someone dies during this event. I know these riders are doing what they love but putting a big payday out there for the winner in such a high risk event comes with a degree of responsibility.
Eat your words!!
Not sure that this particular crash is a reflection one way or another about any perceived/real increase in danger at Rampage this year however.
Probably Brage's crash is a better example? Then, some other runs looked tame compared to recent years.
In this sport, its possible to break your neck mis-timing a small jump and just bruise your elbow messing up a huge drop...
Everyone involved in this incident with Tom will improve the safety of the event or let’s hope they will. Several guys/gals in this article have made some great points that maybe it’s time to end Rampage before they have a fatality, but how many of them are competent enough to make that decision in comparison to the riders, the teams, medical staff, etc., who know the risks way more than we ever will… Hopefully, they will improve the safety of this event.
I’ve been riding MTB for over 25 years and have seen some crazy stuff and serious disabling injuries, but most of us know the risks and can’t stop riding. There are some double black trails I will not ride anymore because of serious over the handlebars that could have led to a serious injury or death, yea I’m competent enough to ride it but it’s too much of a risk for me; and my buddies oftentimes ride it without me and I meet them on the other end.
People are not the problem to control, but the solution to harness. The Rampage team and riders need to continue to build a learning culture.
How did he manage to get his dog into hospital?
youtu.be/loxQaTsUNlw
The only thing Tom or his family need to hear is encouraging words of support.
Honestly pinkbike armchair critics are the worst. Stick to your nerdy tech talk and let the grown ups talk.