“Why did the barriers completely fail to do exactly what they were fitted for?” Horror crash into crowd sees Olympic champion Katy Marchant suffer broken arm – months after taller safety barriers fitted around track following similar crash

Olympic team sprint champion Katy Marchant has suffered a broken arm and two dislocated fingers but is in “good spirits”, British Cycling says, after a shocking crash during Saturday night’s UCI Track Champions League in London, which saw her catapult over the barriers and into the crowd – in only the second event since 1.4m-high Perspex safety barriers were installed in the same venue in response to a similar horror crash at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Marchant, who won gold in Paris as part of Great Britain’s team sprint squad alongside Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell, was taking part in the first round of the keirin during the grand final of the UCI Track Champions League at London’s Lee Valley Velodrome.

However, during the last lap of the race, the 31-year-old collided with Germany’s Alessa-Catriona Pröpster as they battled for space on a bend, sending the pair careening to the right towards the top of the banking, before they were catapulted over the barriers and into the crowd, Marchant landing headfirst into a row of fans.

Following the horror crash, four spectators received medical assistance for what was later revealed to be “minor” injuries, while Pröpster was able to walk away after ten minutes. According to one spectator involved in the crash, who posted on social media describing it as a “scary moment for us all”, the four injured fans were discharged from hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning.

(Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)

Marchant, however, remained on the floor, where she was accompanied by her husband Rob, receiving treatment for around half an hour before she was carried out of the velodrome and taken to hospital.

Racing was suspended as Marchant was being treated, and eventually called off completely, as spectators were told to leave the velodrome.

A statement from the event’s organisers said: “WBD Sports, British Cycling, Lee Valley VeloPark, and the Union Cycliste Internationale unanimously decided to suspend all further racing for the evening and want to extend their best wishes for a speedy recovery to both riders and all affected spectators.

“We are working closely with all parties to review the incident before taking appropriate action.”

On Sunday morning, British Cycling confirmed that Marchant – who followed up her Olympic success with a maiden world team sprint title in Ballerup in October, again alongside Capewell and Finucane – had suffered two broken bones in her forearm in the crash, but was in “good spirits”.

“After receiving prompt medical attention from the track medical team, Katy was escorted to the hospital by the British Cycling doctor,” the governing body confirmed.

“X-rays revealed a fractured radius and ulna in her right forearm, as well as two dislocated fingers.

“Katy is in good spirits and is receiving excellent care from her medical team. We wish her a full and speedy recovery.”

Marchant (left) racing during the first round of the sprint during the Track Champions League grand final on Saturday, with the Perspex barriers visible in the background (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

Marchant’s shocking crash came just under three months after Lee Valley VeloPark installed a new 1.4m-high Perspex safety barrier around the London track following a similarly horrific incident at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which saw Olympic omnium champion Mat Walls catapulted over the advertising barriers and into the crowd, leaving one spectator with a serious arm injury.

The £250,000 barrier, described by Lee Valley as a “UK-first”, was fitted in August as part of a series of improvements being made to the velodrome which hosted the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2022 Commonwealth Games, with Saturday’s races marking only the second time the perplex shields had been used in competition.

> Horror crash that left track cycling spectator with “machete-like” injury prompts London velodrome to install Perspex barrier, two years after rider catapulted into crowd, “almost killing” children

Their inability, however, to prevent Marchant’s crash has provoked some debate on social media, with one fan describing the new taller fences as a “an abject failure”.

“Now is perhaps too early to look at but there needs to be a full discussion as to why the new barriers fitted after Matt Walls’ crash in the 2022 Commonwealth Games completely failed in doing exactly what they were fitted to do,” cycling writer Tim Bonville-Ginn wrote on BlueSky.

“As far as I am concerned, it is an abject failure,” replied Richard. “Any engineer worth their salt should have taken pretty much any possible scenario into account. It should not have been possible. Unforgivable. Why didn’t they just make the Perspex barriers higher?”

“Having looked at before and after pictures, I can see they just removed the ‘old’ side boards and replaced them with slightly higher Perspex,” noted 2012 para-cycling pursuit world champion Colin Lynch. “I assumed the Perspex was in addition to the old boards. I can see why this happened as they barely added a foot of extra protection.”

“But it’s very hard with banking to come up with a system safe for both riders and spectators,” countered Martin. “Removing the first couple of rows of seats and replacing them with matting is a possibility. The Perspex screen just leads to heavier and arguably more dangerous falls for riders.”

(Alex Broadway/SWpix.com)

As noted above, the Perpsex screens were installed as a response to the nasty crash which took place during the qualifying round for the men’s scratch race at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which prompted calls from Chris Hoy and Laura Kenny to improve safety measures at velodromes.

The devastating final-lap crash brought eight riders down and flung Team England rider Walls over the advertising hoardings and into the front two rows of the stands, where Hugh Colvin was sitting with two of his children, aged five and seven, and some family friends.

Groupama-FDJ pro Walls, who won the Olympic omnium title in Tokyo the year before, was treated for over 40 minutes inside the Lee Valley VeloPark before being taken to hospital, where it was confirmed that he had suffered no serious injuries. The Isle of Man’s Matt Bostock, who was carried away on a stretcher, and Canada’s Tour de France top-ten finisher Derek Gee were also treated in hospital for minor injuries.

(Will Palmer/SWpix.com)

While the Games’ organisers initially stated that two injured spectators – including the Colvins’ seven-year-old daughter – did not require hospital treatment, Hugh and his wife Laura later confirmed that a family friend, who was sitting beside the Colvins in the front row, was forced to undergo surgery for a serious arm injury which left him covered in blood, and which they described as akin to a “machete injury”.

> Sir Chris Hoy says safety screens could have prevented Matt Walls’ Commonwealth Games crash

Following the crash two years ago, Sir Chris Hoy argued that the dramatic incident was “the direct result of not having a barrier at the top of the fencing”.

“I think it’s preventable if they put a Perspex screen to protect the crowd. I’ve seen a shot of it and it was horrendous to watch,” the six-time Olympic gold medallist said. “Something has to be done before something genuinely serious happens.”