February 28/20 10:49 am - Beveridge Out of Omnium After Crash

Posted by Editoress on 02/28/20
 

Canada's Allison Beveridge was forced to pull out of the women's Omnium after getting caught in a multi-person crash during the final laps of the first event.  As the bunch prepared to sprint with two laps to go in the Scratch Race, defending world champion Kirsten Wild (Netherlands) caused a crash that took down five riders, including Beveridge and defending Olympic champion Laura Kenny (Great Britain).  The riders were within the final five laps of the finish, so they were all given 20th place.  Wild was relegated.

Canadian head track coach Brendon Cameron said that after a physical examination, Beveridge was exhibiting mild concussion symptoms, as well as considerable scrapes on her left side.

"We went straight into a medical check [after the crash]," explained Cameron.  "We inspected her helmet and she had damage to it; cracked her visor and damaged her helmet, and was showing signs that she had hit her head on the track.  So she went through a full concussion test with the medical team and she did shows signs of a light concussion.  But she's totally fine and just lost some skin off her left hip.  With a head knock, for the health and wellbeing of the athlete you don't risk it."

"She's fine for points for Tokyo, for the Olympic qualification, so there's no point in risking it.  It's one of those things, it's racing.  She was in a good position with two laps to go and there was a bit of a move by another athlete that caused a relegation [Wild]."