Chloé Dygert to miss road and track world championships due to leg injury

Chloé Dygert will end her season early and miss the road and track world championships.

Dygert has missed much of the season as she has been recovering from a serious leg injury she picked up at the 2020 road worlds. The 24-year-old lost control of her bike and slid out on a corner while on course to take time trial gold, suffering a deep laceration to her left leg.

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She returned to racing in June to take part in the U.S national time trial, which she won, before heading to the Olympic Games in Tokyo last month.

Dygert looked in a lot of discomfort as she rode the time trial event, where she finished seventh at more than two minutes behind the gold medalist Annemiek van Vleuten. However, she helped the USA to bronze and a new national record in the Team Pursuit on the track the following week.

“After this, I knew that I couldn’t train and prepare at my best for these next races. To race at 100 percent and lose because you were beaten by someone faster or simply better, that’s one thing. To be on the start line at 80 percent and feeling like you’re letting yourself or your teammates down, that’s another.”

Also read: Tokyo Olympics: How Team USA rebuilt the women’s Team Pursuit squad for 2021

Dygert spent a week in hospital after the crash and has been undergoing extensive rehab ever since. She will now not race in Canyon-SRAM colors until the 2022 season.

Following the news that her season would end after just five race days, Dygert posted on Instagram for the first time in about eight months with a picture of her and her bronze medal.

“This past year has been filled with so many trials from my injury. Learning to accept this healing process has been one of the hardest tests of my life,” she wrote in the picture caption. “I am so incredibly grateful for my support team.