Shocking new details have emerged as a father whose children were caught up in a terrifying crash at the Commonwealth Games speaks out for the first time.
The London velodrome was the scene of a horrific cycling accident last week that saw 15km scratch competitor Matt Walls fly over the fence and into the crowd.
Walls, Matt Bostock and Derek Gee were hospitalized while multiple other riders went down in the incident, which you can watch in the video above.
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The crash sparked serious concerns for spectators after several people, including children, were seen ducking for cover and cowering in fear.
It has now been revealed Walls’ bike landed where a five-year-old boy and another child had been sitting prior to moving up one row to see more of the track.
Hugh Colvin, the father of the five-year-old, and his wife Laura, who was not in attendance, say they regret sitting so close with children in tow, having been “completely unaware” fans could be in such significant danger.
“If we had known for a moment that there was a risk that a bike with an adult male going at that speed could come into contact with my seven-year-old daughter, my family would never have been there,” Laura told the BBC .
The Colvins said it had been difficult to look back at photos of the crash as they pieced together what had become a blur.
“It all happened so incredibly quickly at the speed the cyclists were going,” Hugh said.
“You can see the trajectory of the bike, it came through, grazed my daughter’s shoulder, and (in) one of the photos you can see we are obviously underneath the wheel.
“It must have been within centimetres, millimetres, of our heads.”
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Laura added: “What has been quite hard for us to get our head around is being able to see from the photographs that were taken of the incident exactly how close this came to being a complete catastrophe and how close our two younger children came to being seriously injured or killed.”
“That has been the main thing we’ve had to reflect on over the last few days,” she said.
The family spoke out after Matt Walls shared a video call with their seven-year-old daughter, which they say has helped her cope with the trauma.
Laura said one of the adult friends who attended with the Colvins still needs surgery on a deep cut on his arm, something the hospital described as “being like a machete injury”.
“It’s been really difficult for him,” she said.
“In addition to the soft tissue and muscle injury he’s got a partially severed tendon in his arm, so it is the start of a long road to recovery for him.”
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England’s five-time Olympic champion Laura Kenny said the crash showed her sport had advanced to a point where governing bodies must now act on velodrome safety.
“I think the crashes are getting worse and it’s because the speeds are getting higher, the positions are getting more extreme,” Kenny said.
“At some point the UCI are going to have to put a cap on these positions. Maybe there should be screens because Matt should not have been able to go over the top and into the crowd – that’s pretty damn dangerous.
“Matt was laughing and making jokes with the paramedics, which is brilliant to hear, but if he’d not gone over, he would have done less damage and certainly done less damage to the little girl (in the crowd).”
In the video below: Cyclist run over in latest worrying Comm Games crash
Cyclist run over in horror Games crash
Sir Chris Hoy acknowledged that “it might seem strange” that riders are able to fly over the fence.
“Personally I think it’s preventable if you put a plexiglass screen around like they do in ice hockey,” he told the BBC.
“Look at motorsport and its catch fencing and the lengths they go to protect the crowd and also the athletes.
“I didn’t want to see the video, I have seen a shot of it, and it was horrendous to see but on the whole it’s a very safe sport.
“All you can do is learn from mistakes and think: how can we make the velodrome safer for athletes and spectators?
“I hope the people in power look at this and think something really has to be done before something genuinely serious happens in the future.”
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