Laura Siddall suffered a slight brain bleed after the accident which saw her day end early and in terrifying circumstances at IRONMAN Brazil.
The popular British star was involved in the accident about halfway through the bike leg in Florianopolis, before being taken to hospital. A CT scan revealed a slight brain bleed, and she was detained overnight for further tests.
Thankfully, those further tests revealed no additional damage and Siddall was able to leave hospital and prepare to fly home to Boulder in Colorado. She said she will be “lying low” for a little while, until she gets the medical all-clear to resume training and racing.
Laura Siddall on IM Brazil accident
Laura provided an update for her followers on Instagram, thanking them for messages of support, and apologising for ‘being MIA’ after Sunday’s accident.
She said: “Unfortunately I was involved in an accident during the bike leg. It was about 85km into the race, I was just coming to the end of the first lap, 5k from the turn obviously. Unfortunately that’s the last thing I remember, the only thing I remember next is waking up on the side of the road with the medical team and the ambulance already there.
“They took me off to hospital, very little on my body thankfully – some road rash, some random cuts and bruises in different places. But obviously, from not remembering anything, I hit my head quite hard and so went to hospital and they did a CT scan and it showed I had a slight brain bleed. So they had to keep me in overnight until they were happy to do another scan earlier today.
“The second CT scan today, the doctor was happy that there was no further damage or worry and cleared me to be released. And I’m okay to fly home tomorrow, which is great as well, back to Boulder. But obviously, with a brain injury, I’ll be lying low for a little bit – I have to have some more tests and appointments when I get back to Boulder before I’m cleared to do anything much more.”
Race organisers were ‘incredible’
Laura also paid tribute to the race organisers for the way she was looked after following Sunday’s accident, saying: “I just want to say a massive thank you to the race team at IRONMAN Brazil – they’ve been really incredible at looking after me and checking I was okay and arranging everything with the hospital and getting me back to the hotel and picking up my bike and my bags and everything that’s at different places on a race day.
“Lots of emotions so I’m gonna leave it there, just grateful there is no further damage, could have been a lot worse I guess. But I just wanted to reach out and thank everyone for the messages but yeah, I’m okay, out of hospital, flying back to Boulder and we’ll go onwards from there.”
