Hawaii co-favorite Katrina Matthews injured in serious bike accident

Katrina Matthews posts a photo from the hospital.

German press agency

It must have been a shocking moment for fellow favorite Katrina Matthews. A good week and a half before the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, he had a serious accident while training. The 31-year-old Briton was hit by a car during a cycling session at a training camp in Texas. Now she is speaking on Instagram.

On Instagram, the triathlete posted a photo from a hospital with extensive skin abrasions on her face and a neck brace. According to her husband, the second in the 2021 Ironman World Championship, which was held in Utah in May, suffered minor fractures in her skull. Katrina Matthews also fractured two vertebrae and her sternum in the accident. Further investigations are pending.

“We rode on a quiet road like we had a dozen times before,” reported two-time Ironman World Champion Patrick Lange at triathlete.com. A car from the opposite direction then suddenly crossed the street and hit Matthews. You had no chance to avoid the accident at high speed on the flat road.

According to Lange, who is also preparing for the World Cup in Hawaii in Texas, Matthews was initially unconscious. Luckily, the ambulance got there quickly. The accident happened on Sunday. Matthews was considered one of the contenders for the podium in the October 6 women’s race. In Utah she had only been beaten by the Swiss Daniela Ryf and finished ahead of the 2019 world champion Anne Haug. (dpa/jma)