British star hit by car on Wednesday, fractures C2 vertebrae

After one of the best seasons of his long and exceptionally distinguished career, Great Britain’s Tim Don had his hopes of a top performance at the IRONMAN World Championships ended today (Wednesday) in Kona, when he was hit by a car while cycling.

Posting on his Instagram account (embedded below), Tim posted a short video from his hospital bed, confirming that the impact had caused a fractured C2 vertebrae that will keep him in a brace for five or six weeks. Fortunately, the treatment will not require an operation.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaIiQs6FuRf/?hl=en&taken-by=tri_thedon

A horrible ending for a 2017 season which has been a great one to this point, for an athlete who had already won career World Championship titles in Triathlon (Senior and Junior), Duathlon and Aquathlon.

Bronze at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in Chattanooga (to add to the same medal from the 2014 Championships in Mont Tremblant), followed a stunning performance at IRONMAN Brazil which saw him set a new fastest time for an official IRONMAN event of 7:40:23. Further wins in Mexico and China amongst others, all of which had shown impressive development of his cycling prowess – yet all with Kona as the ultimate target for the season.

Get well soon Tim.