Former world junior downhill champion Oisín O’Callaghan has been forced out of this year’s elite World Championships in France as crash injuries he sustained earlier this summer have not sufficiently healed.
Meanwhile, young Travis Harkness was forced out of the junior XC MTB race at the Worlds when he crashed during his reccie ride of the course in Les Gets. The VC Glendale teenager suffered a broken collarbone and so had no chance of starting the junior men’s race today.
That was a bitter blow for Harkness, though the first-year junior will have another shot next year. He has already represented Ireland in cyclocross this season at both the Europeans in the Netherlands and the Worlds in the United States.
For O’Callaghan, his withdrawal from the Worlds in Les Gets was a pre-emptive decision based in his recovery from a crash in July. While he almost won the race to be fit, he has said his wrist injury had simply not healed enough to race, especially at worlds level.
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Limerick’s O’Callaghan crashed heavily (video below) while racing in Andorra in mid July. He suffered a broken collarbone, AC joint and also three different fractures in his right wrist.
While he worked very hard to get back on the bike in time for the Worlds, including daily hyperbaric chamber sessions plus acupuncture daily, his cast only came off his arm last week.
However, he felt he would be ready to ride in Les Gets for Ireland and travelled to the Alps early last week with the intention of further rehab on the wrist and riding in the area. Though that went well, his condition did not progress quite enough and he took the difficult decision not to start the qualifying round.
