A Chilean cyclist racing for a women’s team sprint bronze medal at the South American Games in the country’s capital, Santiago, instead ended up in hospital with a fractured kneecap after crashing into a starting gate that officials had neglected to remove from the track.
It seems as though the starting gate was left in position due to a false start to the race, in which Chile, cheered on by a home crowd, were up against Brazil.
As the video shows, with an official waving a red flag, Estefania Ñúñez, riding man one, swung up the track to avoid it.
But Irene Aravena, riding in her slipstream with her view blocked, failed to see the starting gate until it was too late, the collision sending her somersaulting over it, the impact snapping her bike in two.
Aravena was operated on for a fractured patella at the city’s Clinica Santa María, reports sportslashlife.com.
The incident took place in the city’s new velodrome, which only opened in December, and the president of the Chilean national cycling federation, Roberto Pérez, has blamed a lack of experience on the part of the organisers for the crash.
With Chile forced to withdraw, the bronze medal went to Brazil.
42 thoughts on “Video: Horrific crash as cyclist hits velodrome starting gate that officials failed to remove”
Never seen a metal bike snap
Never seen a metal bike snap in two! As a victim of snapped carbon I would never trust it again! I can’t accept that it is stronger.
spence129 wrote:As a victim
This isn’t a very evidence based thought process. Also begs the question, stronger than what?
I’ve watched the videos on
I’ve watched the videos on youtube to show how carbon is stronger than alu by doing different experiments, but the problem is how carbon breaks. As mentioned above metal will bend but at least that gives you a chance, I had a set of forks (On a £1500 bike) so not cheap snap sending me flying over the bars, without an impact or anything like.
I have no doubt the outcome of her injuries would have been similar in this instance, I was just making the point that the bike snapped.
Need a bigger bank balance then I can go Ti!!
spence129 wrote:Never seen a
I’ve seen welds/brazing go on frames. Anything can fail if it’s made too marginal or abused. Weight for weight carbon is much stronger than steel. If you compare an 800 gram carbon frame with an 800 gram steel frame the carbon is probably going to be stronger, certainly stiffer… The problem with all this carbon breaks stuff is that people are not comparing like with like.
Thats a nasty accident I hope her future career is not jeopardised
spence129 wrote:Never seen a
would you like to ride into a similarly solid object at a similar speed on a metal bike to back up your claim?
😉
God you luddite morons are
God you luddite morons are tiresome… Carbon is MORE strong than alloy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xreZdUBqpJs
I hate misleading headlines
I hate misleading headlines X( the headline directed all fault at the referees when clearly the whole story was more complicated
jarredscycling wrote:I hate
How is it misleading?
jarredscycling wrote:I hate
It’s a statement of fact; the Coo-ee Mr Shifters on the right on the pic in the orange didn’t move it. She hit it.
Would she have hit it if they had moved it? No.
Were other factors in play? Yes, it says so in the story.
Metal and carbon fail
Metal and carbon fail differently; carbon will suffer a catastrophic failure while steel will bend. But how they fail is irrelevant; a competition frame of either material would not have survived this sort of crash.
I can’t imagine that won’t be
I can’t imagine that won’t be the realistic end to her career.
there is a lot of proportional blame to be handed out with this one, alas only one person will be suffering the after effects.
What a shame, and I hope she recovers well.
Oh… my experience is that
Oh… my experience is that metal bikes tend to bend rather than snap… same result though.
Because, of course, Ti can be
Because, of course, Ti can be ridden into solid objects worry free.
Instead of bitching at each
X( Instead of bitching at each other don’t you think we should be extending our best wishes to Irene Aravena and our sympathies to Estefania Nunez?
Who gives a shit about the failure profiles of steel, carbon or titanium. The material that the frame was made of matters not a jot. They all would have failed. They all would have provided no protection to the rider who would have been experiencing the most shocking agony after the initial shock passed.
Get some bloody perspective!
Also, I’ve seen metal frames
Also, I’ve seen metal frames snap. I’ve seen alloy bars snap. I’ve not seen an aeroplane wing snap though, either metal or carbon.
So far my investigation is inconclusive.
Why the hell was that left
Why the hell was that left there? They didn’t seem to be try too hard to remove it either. Inexperience or not, i think almost anyone can see that it shouldn’t be left on the track they are racing around.
I hope that the rider recovers well and that it isn’t the end of her career
Nasty. Think her team mate
Nasty. Think her team mate could have done more to warn her as could have the officials.
Steel v carbon? Really?
I
Steel v carbon? Really?
I mean, really?
The chap with the red flag really didn’t help by obscuring her view.
Hope to hell it turns out to be less serious than it looks.
wtf were they doing?????
wtf were they doing????? inexperienced or not, how hard is it to work out that the start gate needs to be taken off the track? If it was the US they would be getting sued….
Lets hope she recovers quickly and completely.
This might seem impertinent
This might seem impertinent and not the main issue in this story (shocking incompetence, hope she gets well soon etc etc) but that is a very nice looking velodrome.
It was a false start. However
It was a false start. However the Chilean team didn’t realise and continued to go full gas building up to speed. At the last second Rider 1 sees the official with the flag and swings up, there’s no time to warn Rider 2 who’s view will have been completely blocked. She had no chance, no matter what.
The gate should have been removed but it was obviously left there due to the false start; I guess the gate movers just thought the teams would roll round to start again.
As for all the expert materials scientists claiming failure profiles for different frame materials… 8|
Hope the injured rider heals fully.
A steel frame can absorb a
A steel frame can absorb a lot of energy in a frontal impact, through the bending of the tubing, just like the crumple zone of a car. If you get hit from behind, the accident is also more survivable if you’re on a steel frame, especially if you’re using traditional spoked wheels.
Also worth considering is that carbon can shatter on impact, meaning potential secondary injury through being “stabbed” or lacerated, either by jagged tube ends or shards of this material.
As everyone knows, even the highest quality carbon components, made by the best manufacturers for the best riders, under the strictest quality control procedures, can be prone to catastrophic failure, and yet many lesser riders are riding parts of unknown provenance, with an unknown lifespan, and often 2nd hand or from bikes that have previously been involved in accidents.
Carbon is great when used under controlled conditions, but use on the public highway, with so much overwhelming anecdotal evidence of component or frame failure, and with the potential for causing death or injury to third parties, just makes me a little apprehensive on group rides.
Neil753 wrote:
This is an oxymoron i’ve not come across before.
What does it matter that the
What does it matter that the bike snapped?
I once rode a homemade steel
I once rode a homemade steel bike over a six bricker ramp and it snapped into two pieces (but not before clearing 5 local kids from the neighbourhood lay down behind it)
Lets end this argument right now.
Well this is what happens
Well this is what happens when you ride an aluminium bike into a stationary object… erm a car.
Aluminium Frame 0 – Carbon forks 1.
Not that I’m advocating one or another.
As for Irene Aravena the frame material is irrelevant. What caused her injury was the impact with the track floor. A metal frame would only act as a crumple zone if she had been attached to the bike. It serves as a good example of why we wear seat belts in cars. al-a Newtons first law – an object will remain at rest or continue to travel at a constant speed unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. In her case that unbalanced force was unfortunately the provided by the track floor.
As for the track officials, its not clear from the video whether there was only one red flag. Surely, as soon as the false start was noted red flags should have been deployed in more than one location, certainly not right in-front of the start gate!
Hope she has a speedy recovery, which is the main thing of course.
The snapping of the frame
The snapping of the frame probably helps her here because it dissipates the force of the collision. I imagine if she was riding steal she might have been thrust down on the track harder and maybe taken a broken collarbone.
It’s pretty clear she neither heard the false start, nor the starting blocks. She might look at her team mate also for not paying attention until too late also.
Anyway, that’s academic. I hope that she makes a speedy recovery and is soon back on her bike and loving it!
This is why I use a rubber
This is why I use a rubber frame. Unlike carbon, steel, aluminium, titanium or bamboo it simply bends in a crash. Plus it has the advantage that the flexibility in the bottom bracket means than I am never going fast enough to injure myself.
See – that was much more interesting than a story about a professional athlete having a nasty crash that could impact her career.
Watching the video it looks
Watching the video it looks like she could’ve been lucky and just flipped over and winded herself (catching the kneecap on the way). Fingers crossed she’s OK and I don’t care what her frame was made of.
Poor woman!
Hope she makes a
Poor woman!
Hope she makes a full recovery,that looked fairly nasty!
Poor woman!
Hope she makes a
Poor woman!
Hope she makes a full recovery,that looked fairly nasty!
That’s what the flags are
That’s what the flags are for, in any kind of racing you need to be alert to the dangers or you become a danger yourself (or to yourself, as illustrated). Hopefully she’ll make a quick recovery, but you can’t blame the officials for such a schoolboy error.
Hate to be the bearer of bad
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but that’s all on her. She’s got her head down staring at the lead riders back wheel. Group riding 101 rookie mistake right there. Had she had her head up she would’ve begun reacting when the lead rider reacted instead of two seconds later when she lifts her head. Hope she heals up soon but it’s pretty shite that the article points fault at the officials when really, it’s all on the rider in this one.
badbadleroybrown wrote:Hate
I think not finding a starting gate on the track would come higher in the list of expectations.
The officials should have taken it off the track, or provided better indication that the race had been ‘red-flagged’, they didn’t; therefore they are at fault Q.E.D.
badbadleroybrown wrote:Hate
This rookie international sprint rider certainly should have been following group riding etiquette. Pointing out holes, parked cars, oncoming traffic and going wide for horses. Hopefully she puts her gel wrappers back in her pocket and uses mudguards in winter.
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Blaming the rider for that?
Blaming the rider for that? FFS. I think a professional track rider should have an expectation that the track should be clear. Plus, she does notice the hazard but the dimwit officials leave her nowhere to go but ito the gate, as she looked as though she wantd to swerve to her left. Pure incompetence on the part of the officials.
+ she’s wearing an aero
+ she’s wearing an aero helmet that covers her ears, so hearing a false start would be hard. I wager the second gun didn’t have a corresponding one on the other side of the track, so they would have been nearly 100 yards away. I’m not surprised either rider heard it.
+ she’s wearing an aero
+ she’s wearing an aero helmet that covers her ears, so hearing a false start would be hard. I wager the second gun didn’t have a corresponding one on the other side of the track, so they would have been nearly 100 yards away. I’m not surprised either rider heard it.
‘Group riding 101 rookie
‘Group riding 101 rookie mistake’
Agreed…had it been a rookie group ride instead of a pro track 2-up.