A Bizzare Crash Leaves Tristan Lemire Recovering from a Broken Arm
Tristan Lemire was on roll at the end of the 2021 World Cup Downhill series with three finishes in the top five in the Junior Men's category, his first year on the race circuit. Over the holiday season, the young gun was training in Windrock, Tennessee when he suffered a savagely broken arm in two places during an unlucky crash where he got caught on something unexpectedly and was thrown from his bike.
We reached out to Tristan to check in and see how he was feeling and to hear more about his unfortunate freak accident.
 | I was down south at Windrock over the holidays for some training, but overall just to take advantage of some nice weather and escape Quebec’s freezing winter! I was out on the mountain for some training and once that was done, I ended up checking out a newly built trail. I was on my brakes checking the top of a steeper section and without knowing it, something on my left side got stuck in a tree. When I let go of the brakes to start my descent, my arm was stuck and made me flip over the bars. Once I hit the ground, I felt a sharp pain and I knew something was wrong: the torsion of my left arm due to the way I fell made my humerus snap in two. The diagnosis: a displaced spiral fracture of the distal one third of the humerus shaft. Not very funny if you asked me! Luckily my nerve was not affected by the injury or from the operation. The orthopaedic surgeon who operated on my arm performed a specific operation that would allow the fastest recovery possible. I was able to get in for emergency surgery on January 1st. My cast came off on January 14th, and I started physio right away, focusing on range of motion to start, eventually progressing to weight bearing exercises by mid-February. I am currently at home in Montreal, focusing on physio and school. With Lourdes two months away, I’ve started working with my trainer again, obviously keeping any activity adapted to my physical limitations. Presuming all goes well and as planned, I am hoping to get back on the bike by the beginning of March, exactly two months after my operation. Although the situation is far from ideal, this should give me enough time to prepare for Lourdes. Of course, this is subject to my bone healing properly so I’m doing everything I can to speed up the process! |
We have no doubt that Tristan will bounce back from this injury and be back up to speed in no time, but wish him all the best on his recovery. His motivation to pick up where he left off in his prosperous breakout season shows with his positivity and focus on the tasks at hand before the first round of the 2022 World Cup season kicks off in Lourdes, France.
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PSA: it goes both ways; if you're an American visiting Whistler or even a Canadian from out of province, spend the few bucks to buy a policy. If you're not travelling in the USA it's ltierally a few bucks per day.
FYI health care is a provincial (state) jurisdiction and not federal. I’m only mentioning this in case you are wondering why I’m taking about provinces and not Canada.
Ortho diagnosed it as advanced osteo-arthritis. Probably will push that out as far as possible. It’s a quality of life call.
"..something on my left side got stuck in a tree...made be flip over the bars.."
I just can't imagine it. What gets stuck? How? Idunno.
Anyhow - I'm sending healing vibes to this athlete.