Luke Plapp undergoes abdominal surgery after nightmare Olympic ITT crash

Whilst Grace Brown managed to bring home a gold medal for the Australian Cycling Team at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in the women's individual time trial, Luke Plapp's hopes of emulating his compatriot in the men's race were sadly ended by a very nasty crash.

"Plapp underwent abdominal surgery last night in a Paris hospital. His parents and an Australian team doctor were at the hospital with him," reads an official announcement by the Australian Cycling Team's social media pages in the early hours of this Sunday morning. "Further medical details are not available at this time."

Plapp reportedly “slid under a barrier fence shortly after passing the first checkpoint approximately 14km into 32km course,” and whilst footage of the crash doesn't seem to be available, a fan video of the Aussie hopeful's sprawled on the floor and in pain did go viral on cycling social media in the immediate aftermath of the incident. 

Plapp was also supposed to be competing in the men's road race alongside compatriot Michael Matthews on the 3rd of August. Whilst that now won't be the case, it's not yet clear who if anyone will be able to replace the Australian National Champion in the lineup at this relatively late time.