LONDON, UK — British two-time Olympic champion track cyclist Katie Archibald will miss the Paris Games after breaking two leg bones in a freak accident.
The 30-year-old Archibald fractured her tibia and fibula and dislocated an ankle when she tripped over a garden step.
She also sustained substantial ligament damage during the incident on Tuesday and has since undergone surgery.
“I tripped over a step in the garden and managed to, somehow, dislocate my ankle; break my tibia and fibula; and rip two ligaments off the bone,” Archibald posted on Instagram on Thursday alongside a photo of her in a hospital bed.
“Had surgery yesterday to pin the bones back together and reattach the ligaments. Then hopefully this afternoon I’ll be going home.”
Archibald won gold with Britain in team pursuit in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and won another gold five years later in the Olympic debut of the women's Madison alongside Laura Kenny in Tokyo.
"A hundred apologies for what this means for the Olympic team, which I've been told won't involve me," she wrote. "I'm still processing that bit of news, but thought I better confirm it publicly instead of leaving it to the grapevine (trip hazard and all that)."
This is the latest setback for her over the past two years.
She missed the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham after colliding with a vehicle. Her partner, mountain biker Rab Wardell, died suddenly the same year at 37.
Archibald has also won five golds at world championships and 20 at European championships.
