Beyond the Game: Snocross Champion Tucker Hibbert

LAKE GENEVA (WITI) -- Athletes, no matter the sport, risk injuries every time they suit up. Add a 400-pound machine flying down a mountain at 60 miles an hour, and that risk goes up. Snocross champion Tucker Hibbert knows that reality all too well.

Hibbert is fast, extreme and a seven-time national champion!

He is known as the "snocross king," and one look at his resume shows why: two snocross  world titles, seven snocross national championships and 11 X Games snocross medals. Not to mention he was the youngest gold medalist in Winter X history.

Hibbert picked up his latest title at the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa earlier this month, but to do it at that track was something special.

"To win the championship this year was awesome. Definitely a little redemption over last year," Hibbert said.

Last year, Hibbert crashed in Lake Geneva, and while he walked off the course, his injuries were much more serious than he thought. He suffered a lacerated kidney, bruised pancreas and internal bleeding.

"It was a couple of weeks in the hospital and then a couple of months at home recovering and being pretty low key, but it wasn't long before I was ready to get back out there," Hibbert said.

In his first race since crashing, Hibbert finished second and by the next event, he was back on top.

"Definitely when you come back from injuries you're motivated to do well and it kind of gives you a little extra spark to go out and show that you can still go fast," Hibbert said.

Fast may be an understatement. Hibbert completely dominated the 2012-2013 season, winning 12 of the 16 main events and clinching the seventh championship with a race to spare.

"The whole team has been working hard to get my sled dialed in and try to improve each weekend and get better with every race," Hibbert said.

With last year's crash in the rearview mirror, Hibbert is making fresh history.

"I try not to think about it and worry about it. I just try to focus on this race and this weekend and trying to be the best I can every lap," Hibbert said.

With another championship season under his belt, Hibbert takes his dominance to Sweden for the clash of nations.