July 25, 2017 (Calgary, AB) – Pedal has learned that national team track rider and Olympian, Kate O’Brien, was seriously injured in a crash while training on the outdoor Glenmore Track in Calgary. O’Brien was hospitalized and while the details of her injuries are not known we heard that she responded positively today – pls see Cycling Canada July 26 release below.

Olympic track cyclist Kate O’Brien is in hospital following a serious crash while training in Calgary Monday evening. Kate was motorpacing as part of a training session when her rear tire blew out, resulting in the fall. Kate was treated immediately and taken to Foothills Hospital, where she is under sedation as doctors treat her injuries.

While initial neurological tests have shown encouraging results, it will be several days before it will be possible to make a full prognosis of Kate’s injuries and her timeline for recovery.

Kate’s many friends and fellow national team members have rallied around to support her and her family. Cycling Canada asks that their privacy be respected in this difficult time; any major updates on Kate’s condition will be announced in due course.

Cycling Canada joins the rest of the Canadian cycling community in wishing Kate a speedy and complete recovery. We would ask that any expressions of well wishes be directed to High Performance Director Kris Westwood at kris.westwood@cyclingcanada.ca so they can be forwarded to Kate’s family.

The talented former bobsledder from Calgary recently turned 29 and quickly made a name for herself following her transition to the track winning Pan Am Games 2015 Team Sprint gold with Monique Sullivan while setting records as well. Soon after she claimed her first national track titles on the new Milton track.

Earlier, on June 5 in 2015, she turned heads when she broke retired American Olympian Connie Paraskevin Young’s 200m record (11.569) by almost a full 10th of a second – a record that has stood since 1996 (read more here).

At Hong Kong last year O’Brien earned a career-best 10th in the individual sprint while she and Sullivan were a best-ever fourth in the Team Sprint. Then in February of this year O’Brien and Amelia Walsh earned Canada’s first World Cup medal in the Team Sprint taking the silver at Los Angeles, CA. The duo was recently 5th in the Team Sprint at the 2017 Track Worlds in Hong Kong.

Pedal joins the cycling community in wishing O’Brien a speedy recovery.