Ironman World Championship Runner-Up Kat Matthews Recovering After Severe Car-Bike Collision in Texas
"By the time I arrived, she was unconscious and concussed at first," said two-time Ironman World Champion Patrick Lange, who was on the scene. "[We] tried to hold her as stable as possible until [the] ambulance arrived."
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British professional triathlete and Ironman World Championship St. George runner-up Kat Matthews is recovering after a driver made a left-hand turn into her path while on a training ride in northwest Houston, just outside of The Woodlands, Texas, on Sunday morning. Matthews was taking part in a pre-Kona training block in Texas with teammates, where she had just raced the PTO U.S. Open. The incident occurred near Bryan Lane and Honea Egypt Road in Montgomery, Texas, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter.
“We were riding on a quiet road we have done a dozen times before, and a car from the other direction just turned across the road and took her out,” two-time Ironman World Champion Patrick Lange told Triathlete on Sunday evening. “Luckily the ambulance and other first responders were there quickly. She had no chance avoiding the crash at pretty high speed on flat fast road.”
Lange, who was on the ride with Matthews, says she “was unconscious and concussed at first” and that he “tried to hold her as stable as possible until ambulance arrived.”
Matthews posted a photo from her hospital room on Sunday morning, showing a selfie with a bloodied face and wearing a neck brace. “A car turn [sic] into me and bashed me up,” she wrote.
A post-crash photo, posted by her husband, Mark, shows the vehicle with a large dent in the front right fender as well as a shattered windshield from the impact.
Matthews says she sustained several injuries, including fractures in her skull, vertebrae, and sternum.
“She will make a full recovery,” Mark wrote on Instagram. “Has no severe breaks, but has had to have a lot of stitches and has a couple of tiny cracks. Which, given the state of the car that hit her, I think we can all agree basically makes her Wolverine.”
UPDATE: Matthews has shared more details on the incident Monday morning, saying “an elderly gentleman (I’m told) just turned (was traveling opposite direction) across and rammed into me (to turn into a drive…I saw the car infront [sic] of me and nothing else.”
Matthews also said that while she is “feeling a real loss of identity/focus, like grieving” she deeply appreciates the support from the tri community.
This is an ongoing story. We will update with more information as it is made available.