"We need an ambulance": Italian track cyclist falls badly at European Championships

Created: 08/14/2022, 09:11

By: Antonio Jose Riether

The Italian track cyclist Letizia Paternoster was injured in the elimination race on Saturday © Pavel Golovkin/dpa

A mass fall while cycling on track overshadowed the European Championships in Munich on Saturday.

The Italian Letizia Paternoster was hit hard.

Munich - Track cycling is also very popular at the European Championships in Munich.

However, with the high speed that the athletes show in the competitions, collisions and falls occur from time to time.

Italy's Letizia Paternoster was hit after a collision during the European Championships elimination on Saturday night.

European Championships: Italian falls in track cycling competition - and has to go to the clinic immediately

In the women's elimination race, there was a heavy mass crash in the steep curve after the home straight, in which several drivers fell.

While the riders were struggling to recover after the fall after a break in treatment, the competition for the 23-year-old paternoster ended due to injury.

Paternoster required longer medical treatment.

In the live broadcast of ZDF, someone could clearly be heard shouting: "Hello, we need an ambulance".

In fact, the fall had consequences: the Italian, who had hit her neck, shoulder and head when she crashed, had to be carried out of the hall on a stretcher to the applause of the spectators.

Her neck was stabilized with a neck brace.

For a long time there was no information about the athlete's health, but shortly before midnight her diagnosis was announced.

Paternoster broke her right collarbone in the fall and suffered a concussion, so she had to spend the night in the hospital.

European Championships: Paternoster's trainer reveals what his athlete said shortly after the fall

Your trainer Marco Villa then told what his protégé had said to him.

"She asked me where she was, but she recognized me and wanted to know which races she should drive on Sunday," revealed the 53-year-old.

When exactly Paternoster can leave the clinic and go back to Italy is not yet clear.

The falls in track cycling are not uncommon, only shortly before there had been another mass fall, which had no consequences.

Curiously, both crashes involved Irish rider Alice Sharpe, who was entirely unharmed and resumed the race both times.

(ajr)