BLOOD & GUTS
Brave Laura rides on after horror crash:
Championships – but she carried on racing.
The four-time Olympic champion, competing in the multi-task omnium with a broken right shoulder after another crash in Canada last month, was left bloodied and dazed after a pile-up in the opening scratch race.
Kenny had no chance of avoiding the carnage after Canada’s Allison Beveridge went down in front of Team GB’s supermum just before the bell to signal the final lap.
Worse still, Mexico’s Lizbeth Salazar was equally blameless as she hit Kenny at high speed, with a total of five riders caught up in the incident.
Bleeding profusely from her facial wound, Kenny received lengthy treatment at the side of the track before being given stitches and going through a statutory concussion check.
Kenny appeared to land heavily on her right hip, sparing the injured shoulder the full force of the impact, with the cut and subsequent black eye caused by the visor on her helmet.
The latest setback to 27-year-old Kenny’s preparation for the Tokyo Olympics came just 24 hours after she had picked up silver in an unexpected return, ahead of schedule, to the women’s team pursuit squad.
She could have been forgiven for pulling out of the rest of the omnium but, having been given the all-clear, she wanted to use the race as a learning opportunity against her Olympic rivals.
Kirsten Wild, the reigning omnium world champion and a major threat to Kenny’s Olympic crown, was relegated for causing the crash despite being a couple of bike lengths in front, with commissaires blaming the Dutchwoman for a domino effect. Kenny finished 12th overall, but her most important result by far was to emerge from the competiton in one piece.