2016 Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen suffered a serious blow to her hopes of a big second half to the season earlier this week, after the American crashed during a criterium race in Colorado.
The 38-year-old, who was named as an alternate for Team USA alongside Katie Zaferes for the Paris Olympic Games, broke her collarbone after colliding with the bike of another rider.
Sharing the news in her most recent YouTube video, Jorgensen gave an update on what’s next, and what the injury will mean for her remaining racing plans in 2024.
Down but not out
Talking about how the happened, Jorgensen explained that somebody went down in front of her, and in trying to avoid a collision, ended up crashing herself.
“Somebody crashed, and somehow he was off his bike and his bike was flying across the road, and I actually thought I was going to miss it.
“However, I ended up riding over the bike and two or three people crashed on top of me after that and I had some pain in my shoulder and wondered if it was a collar bone break.”
After seeing a doctor, who confirmed that she’d broken her collar bone in three places, Jorgensen said that she plans to get surgery to repair the damage.
What’s next?
Having originally planned to head to Europe in September and race World Triathlon Cup events in the Czech Republic and Spain, Jorgensen will now have to reassess her options, with WTCS Weihai potentially still on the cards.
“There’s no information about China or the series, but that’s what I wanted to do, China and then the Grand Final, and I think the Grand Final is the next big hit out.”
Appearing in good spirits in the video, the mother of two said that “it is what it is, we move on” and with almost three months until the WTCS Grand Final in Malaga, triathlon fans will hopefully see one of the biggest stars in the sport race again in 2024.
