Kiwi cyclist in horror velodrome crash: 'Can't get much worse'

New Zealand’s George Jackson has spoken of his involvement in the horror crash during qualifying for the men’s Commonwealth Games scratch race which put two riders in hospital and several spectators requiring medical treatment, saying “you can’t get much worse”.

“I thought I was going to get around it but I just clipped a bike and went down with it,” he said in an interview with 1News at London’s Lee Valley velodrome. “But I was definitely a lucky one compared to some of the other boys.”

Jackson went down hard after colliding with two fallen riders on a bend but worse was to follow when England’s Matt Walls was flung off the track and into the crowd.

Read more: Cyclist flies into velodrome crowd in horror crash at Comm Games

The event was stopped and Walls was treated in the stands for almost 40 minutes, with Isle of Man rider Matt Bostock also taken to hospital.

The incident, which horrified the crowd, came after Englishman Joe Truman was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken collarbone in a crash on the same track the previous day.

“You can’t get much bigger than that,” Jackson said. “The English guy who went over the fence – that was pretty nasty. You can’t get much worse.”

Jackson, wearing white bandages on both arms after helping countryman Corbin Strong to a gold medal in the race final, alongside Campbell Stewart, said he suffered “just a few burns. I came off lucky”.

“I was a bit sore but the adrenaline pumps when you get out there. You just keep going."

In the aftermath of the crash, Jackson was worried about not qualifying for the final so borrowed a bike and rolled along the finish line.

During the final he also had the misfortune to puncture a tyre and so had to get a quick wheel change from a team mechanic.

Stewart described his worry at seeing Jackson after the crash-marred race: “I came in and saw him after the race. He was sitting there and looking distraught. I said ‘what’s going on, are you okay? Are you a bit sore?’. It turns out he was just worried he might not have qualified for the final. He’s tough.”