One and a half weeks before the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, fellow favorite Katrina Matthews 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.
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.
First unconscious
"We rode on a quiet road like a dozen times before," two-time Ironman World Champion Patrick Lange, who rode with her, reported to 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 (local time).
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.