Olympic champion to miss Paris games after freak accident

LONDON – British track cyclist Katie Archibald will not compete in the Olympics in Paris this summer after breaking two leg bones in a freak accident.

Archibald, who won gold medals at the last two Summer Olympics, fractured her tibia and fibula and dislocated an ankle when she tripped over a garden step Tuesday, she said in a post on Instagram.

“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,” she said on Instagram. The 30-year-old had to have surgery done for ligament damage and to pin her bones back together.

“A hundred apologies for what this means for the Olympic team, which I’ve been told won’t involve me,” she said. “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).”

The Olympic Summer Games will take place along the Seine River in Paris starting July 26.