Portsmouth-born cyclist Joe Truman knocked out cold in Commonwealth Games horror crash

The Petersfield rider crashed into Australian defending champion Matt Glaetzer and amid flying debris was knocked unconscious, receiving oxygen from trackside medics.

Truman was taken to hospital in a wheelchair after the second-round horror with Glaetzer’s skinsuit ripped to shreds.

Six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy said: ‘It reminds us how tough these guys are and how brave you have to be.’

Glaetzer was one of the protagonists of the dramatic Olympic keirin final in Tokyo when the field were caught napping by Jason Kenny, an England coach here, who took gold with a long-range attack.

Two-time Commonwealth champion Glaetzer found himself boxed on the penultimate lap and caught the back wheel of New Zealand’s Sam Webster, hitting the deck and bringing Truman down with him.

Truman – who used to play football for US Portsmouth’s youth teams before concentrating on cycling - only returned to the track last year after a career-threatening back injury kept him out for two years. He was in such pain at one stage that he couldn’t put his socks on.

The Portsmouth native is a master in the dark arts of keirin racing, that has its origins in Japan, spending time racing professionally in the land of the rising sun.

Truman’s former housemate Jack Carlin, who went on to win silver, was in the race and just ahead of Webster when the crash happened.

Carlin said: ‘There’s nothing worse than watching your mate crash.

‘Joe is very strong willed and a strong character. I don’t know if I could have come back from the things he’s come back from and dealt with.

‘This is another hiccup in the road for him. He’s still two years away (from Paris) and looking really promising. He’ll be back stronger no doubt.

‘He’s such a talented rider and it’s the consistency he’s been missing, he was starting to find it.

‘Hopefully it’s not too serious and he’ll be back on the bike again in a matter of weeks.’

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