Injured snowboarder has successful surgery on back

(AP) — Snowboarder Danny Davis is recovering after successful back surgery he needed due to a season-ending accident on a four-wheeler in the Utah mountains.

An update posted on his Facebook site Tuesday said doctors are, quote, "very pleased" with the outcome of Davis' surgery on a vertebrae in his lower back. The update said an official statement from the doctors would be coming in the next 24 hours.

Davis was a strong favorite to make the U.S. Olympic halfpipe team, but his season ended after an accident early Sunday morning in which he crashed an all-terrain vehicle into a closed gate.

Davis is good friends with Kevin Pearce, another top snowboarder and one-time Olympic hopeful who is in a Utah hospital recovering from a head injury he suffered during training last month.