You heard it here third! - big thanks to Brant @ On-One.co.uk for passing this on from stiksandstones.com. "First day of DH practice up atop Grouse mtn. and many injuries have occurred, the 1st and biggest is Steve Peat, the man on a mission this year with numerous wins in major DH competitions is out. His hand came off the bars in the woods and he crashed, ended up with a 3rd degree shoulder separation and a broken rib, knowing how tough Stevie is though, he will pound a few beers and be back as soon as possible, I will keep ya updated. Fabien Barel also of GT was impaled by a stick, he should be able to ride, Sara Stieger who was knocked out in slovenia was rolled by my tents in a stretcher, do not know what happened, I saw Markhof Berchtold of Global team with a pretty sore shoulder and huge bag of ice and lastly Be-One rider Mikael Pascal was taken out on a stretcher too, with lower back pain. The course is not so gnarly, but I "think" that its so short people are trying to pin it, But lets keep our fingers crossed for all those hero's that are battered tonight."

A third degree seperation basically means all the tendons and ligaments that hold your collarbone and shoulder together have been torn apart, which can often be more serious than a fracture itself, and even broken ribs are a debilitating pain in the arse (or should that be chest). We'll let you know how he's recovering as soon as we hear more. After first places in all his recent races (including last weeks NORBA) this is the last thing he needs.