New Delhi: The high-energy atmosphere at the Lee Vally Velodrome where Commonwealth Games 2022 is taking place turned tense after British cyclist Joe Truman was knocked out and suffered a suspected broken collarbone following a horrifying 70 kilometre per hour keirin smash, reported the Independent. The 25-year-old athlete crashed into Australian defending champion Matt Glaetzerand and was knocked unconscious, receiving oxygen from the trackside medics after which he was taken to a hospital in a wheelchair.
The second-round horror of the track event had ripped Glaetzer's skinsuit to shreds, a two-time Commonwealth champion who was on the penultimate lap and caught the back wheel of New Zealand’s Sam Webster, hitting the deck and bringing Truman down with him, as per the report.
Truman had made a come-back to the track last year after a hiatus of two years owing to a career-threatening back injury which had limited his abilities to even put on his socks due to the massive amount of pain that he experienced.
The Portsmouth native is a master in the dark arts of keirin racing, which has its origins in Japan, spending time racing professionally in the land of the rising sun.
The nerve-wracking event came to an end with Trinidad and Tobago’s Nicholas Paul winning the gold medal followed by a silver won by Truman's former housemate Jack Carlin leaving behind Malayasia's Shah Sahrom and Australia's Matthew Richardson. Carlin was just ahead of Webster when the crash happened who later said, “There’s nothing worse than watching your mate crash."
“Joe is very strong willed and a strong character. I don’t know if I could have come back from the things he’s come back from and dealt with. This is another hiccup in the road for him. He’s still two years away (from Paris) and looking really promising. He’ll be back stronger no doubt," he said, quoted by the publication.