Olympic medallist out of Paris Games after breaking leg in freak accident

A three-time Olympic medallist for Great Britain has had her Paris dream crushed after a freak accident unfolded in her own garden.

Katie Archibald ruined by freak accident

Katie Archibald has been ruled out of Paris 2024 after breaking her leg in a freak garden accident.

The three-time Olympic medallist for Great Britain hurt herself while in the garden at home, The Sun reports.

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Archibald, 30, managed to dislocate her ankle as well as break her tibia and fibula.

The cyclist also ripped two ligaments off the bone, which all led to a trip to the hospital.

She confirmed the injury in an Instagram post for her 34.4k followers.

“I tripped over a step in the garden and managed to, somehow, dislocate my ankle; break my tibia and fibula; and rip two ligaments off the bone. What the heck,” she wrote.

“That was on Tuesday, and since then I’ve been in full princess mode (assuming it took a full team of A&E doctors and nurses to get Cinderella’s foot back in line with the slipper).

“Had surgery yesterday to pin the bones back together and reattach the ligaments. Then hopefully this afternoon I’ll be going home (wearing a more high tech boot than the one in my hot dogs pic).

“A hundred thank yous for the fabulous doctors, nurses, radiographers, porters, physios, surgeons and more at the Manchester Royal Infirmary.

“A hundred apologies for what this means for the Olympic team, which I’ve been told won’t involve me.

“I’m still processing that bit of news, but thought I better confirm it publicly instead of leaving it to the grapevine (trip hazard and all that).

“Might be back with more updates, might be gone from the socials for a bit - TBC. Ciao for now. Katie x.”

Archibald and Laura Kenny after winning gold in Japan. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Her followers have sent their sympathies to her by flooding the comment section.

One commented: “Gutted for you Katie.”

A second posted: “Oh Katie, so sorry to read this. Wishing you a good recovery and time to process this.”

A third said: “Wishing you a speedy recovery.”

Another added: “Get well soon, gutted for you.”

Team GB shared its own post regarding Archibald’s injury.

“Katie Archibald will miss Paris 2024 after sustaining an injury,” the statement read.

“The three-time Olympic medallist has suffered a broken ankle and has since undergone surgery, ruling her out of the Games.

“Wishing you a speedy recovery, Katie!”

Archibald won gold at the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and gold again in Tokyo 2020.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as Olympic medallist out of Paris Games after breaking leg in freak accident