Tribute for Burke planned for Thursday

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — The Winter X Games will hold a tribute Thursday to honor freestyle skier Sarah Burke, who died last week from injuries suffered during a training accident.

X Games spokesman Danny Chi says the memorial is planned for early in the ESPN broadcast Thursday night and will include several athletes.

The 29-year-old Burke was considered the foremost pioneer in her sport of superpipe skiing. It was her lobbying effort that helped persuade Olympic officials to add the discipline for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

A four-time Winter X Games gold medalist, the Canadian skier died last Thursday, nine days after an accident in which she landed awkwardly while doing a trick on a superpipe in Park City, Utah.