Katie Archibald: Scottish cyclist to miss Paris Olympics after breaking leg in freak garden accident

The 30-year-old Scottish cyclist fractured her tibia and fibula and dislocated an ankle after tripping over a garden step. Additionally, she sustained significant ligament damage during the incident on Tuesday and has since undergone surgery.

Sharing her health update on Instagram alongside a picture of her in a hospital bed, she wrote: “I tripped over a step in the garden and managed to, somehow, dislocate my ankle; break my tibia and fibula; and rip two ligaments off the bone. What the heck. “That was on Tuesday, and since then I've been in full princess mode (assuming it took a full team of A&E doctors and nurses to get Cinderella's foot back in line with the slipper). Had surgery yesterday to pin the bones back together and reattach the ligaments. Then hopefully this afternoon I'll be going home (wearing a more high tech boot than the one in my hot dogs pic).”

She also thanked the medical staff at the Manchester Royal Infirmary for the treatment she received and apologised to her Olympic team for her inability to be part of them for this year’s tournament. She said: “A hundred thank yous for the fabulous doctors, nurses, radiographers, porters, physios, surgeons and more at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. “A hundred apologies for what this means for the Olympic team, which I've been told won't involve me. I'm still processing that bit of news, but thought I better confirm it publicly instead of leaving it to the grapevine (trip hazard and all that). Might be back with more updates, might be gone from the socials for a bit - TBC. Ciao for now. Katie x.”

The Paris Olympics take place between July 26 and August 11. Archibald, who won team pursuit gold at Rio 2016 and then topped the podium in the madison alongside Laura Kenny at Tokyo 2020, has endured a horrendous past couple of years.

In the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, she collided with a vehicle amid a series of injury setbacks while her partner, mountain biker Rab Wardell, died suddenly that summer aged 37.