Only nine months after serious training accident and induced coma
An artist's render of what the velodrome should look like from within, once completed. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Kristina Vogel was hit by a vehicle at the end of May 2009, suffering multiple fractures and spending two days in an induced coma. Now, the 19-year-old is preparing to ride in the World Track Championships in Copenhagen next month. “It is a miracle to me that she is even in the saddle again,” said German sprint trainer Detlef Uibel.
Vogel was hit by a van during a training ride last May. She suffered a broken vertebra, a double broken jaw, and fractures of the arm and hand. She also lost all but six of her lower teeth. Vogel has undergone multiple operations and faces another one immediately after the Worlds, for dental implants.
The facial injuries she sustained were important, but Vogel has managed to come back from the accident. As she told the dpa press agency, “The worst for me is actually the scars. A young woman wants to be pretty.
"But I always had my goal, which I could look to,” she added.
“From the beginning, Kristina has been very open about her accident and its results,” said Uibel.
Vogel will ride the sprint in the World Championships. She won the Junior World title in the sprint in 2007 and 2008, along with four other world titles.
She will make her return to racing at the middle of March at the Grand Prix in Pruskow, before heading to Denmark. “I assume, that with further undisturbed preparations, she will start at the Worlds in Copenhagen – without any major goals,” according to Uibel.
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