American Skier Gus Kenworthy Breaks Thumb, Jokes He Can’t Shake Mike Pence’s Hand

Gus Kenworthy sees the bright side of a hand injury.

American freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy is dealing with a minor injury ahead of Sunday’s slopestyle competition, but the only impact it’ll have is on a potential run-in with the vice president. 

Kenworthy announced that he broke his right thumb in practice on Thursday. It shouldn’t impact his skiing, “but it does prevent me from shaking [Mike] Pence’s hand,” he joked. 

Broke my thumb yesterday in practice. It won't stop me from competing (obvi) but it does prevent me from shaking Pence's hand so... Silver linings! Will be giving my teammates (and literally everyone else) an enthusiastic "thumbs up!" of encouragement the rest of the trip. pic.twitter.com/XylPPGAq9P

— Gus Kenworthy (@guskenworthy) February 15, 2018

Pence is the ceremonial leader of the U.S. delegation in PyeongChang. Kenworthy, who came out as gay after the 2014 Olympics, has been an outspoken critic of Pence and his anti-gay record. 

Kenworthy posted a photo with fellow gay Olympian Adam Rippon after the opening ceremony while also taking a shot at Pence. 

Kenworthy won silver in the slopestlye event in Sochi and came out as gay a year later in an interview with ESPN.