As Sweeney was reaching Curve 9, which has developed a reputation among Olympic lugers for being so slippery and hard to handle, she slid upward so that her feet smashed into the right (upper) wall, which sent her careening back down into the left wall.
The crowds went from loud cheers to shocked silence as the impact caused Sweeney to fly off of her luge sled and go sliding across the ice.
On Tuesday night in PyeongChang, luger Emily Sweeney was in 14th place after three runs, and it was during her fourth shot that the unfortunate crash went down.