Australian track cyclist rushed to hospital after Team Pursuit squad crash just three days before big race
AUSSIE track cyclist Melissa Hoskins has been taken to hospital after the women’s team pursuit squad crashed at training in Rio, three days out from competition.
AUSTRALIAN track cyclist Melissa Hoskins has been taken to hospital in an ambulance after the women’s team pursuit squad crashed at training in Rio just three days out from competition.
Annette Edmondson was the only rider to avoid the crash at the velodrome while Hoskins, Ashlee Ankudinoff, Amy Cure and Georgie Baker all fell and hit the track.
While some suffered skin grazing, Hoskins is the only one who has gone to hospital as a precaution according to the team.
Hoskins has endured a tough year after she contracted pneumonia early in the season and missed the world championships in March.
They are due to start qualifying when the track competition begins on Thursday.
The crash happened as riders were coming into the bend before the home straight.
While the other riders got up, Hoskins lay on the track for about five minutes and was taken out of the velodrome on a stretcher and was conscious.
It is the third crash that has affected the Australian team in Rio after Rohan Dennis fell during training and Richie Porte broke his shoulder in the men’s road race.
Hoskins is a former world champion and one of the most important cogs in Australia’s TP which is considered a gold medal contender in Rio.
Cycling Australia high performance manager Kevin Tabotta hopes to know more about Hoskins’ condition this morning and described the team as “a bunch of fighters”.
He said Hoskins was feeling pain mostly in her hip but she did not lose consciousness at any time and was not in a neck brace. The crash happened after a touch of wheels.
“At this stage of the four girls that went down, three appear to be superficial (injuries) with a little bit of bruising and skin off or splinters, but they’ve headed back to the village now and are working on their recovery.
“Mel Hoskins fell the hardest of the four, and she’s been taken to hospital and is with our chief medic for cycling, she’s in good hands, the hospital she’s gone to is an excellent facility so we’ll know more in the next half-hour and from there we’ll know what we do next.
“She was in a little bit of discomfort around the hip, but that’s not unusual for that sort of impact.
“I’m not going to draw any conclusions because often after two, three, four hours the situation is quite different.”
It is a cruel blow for Hoskins who missed this year’s world titles while recovering from pneumonia but Tabotta does not know whether the crash will stop her from racing in Rio this week.
“She’s had a rough start and has actually been moving really well, she made a big return fitness wise from the earlier stuff in the year and has been travelling really well,” Tabotta said.
“She’ll be disappointed, this is not ideal, I’m not going to lie, these girls have worked hard for four years to be here but I don’t want to jump to conclusions.”
The Australian track team is expected to train twice more before racing starts on Thursday.
At the track when the crash happened was road cyclist Richie Porte who has his arm in a sling as he recovers from a broken shoulder in the men’s road race on Saturday.