Muriel Furrer (18) dies after crash in women's junior road race at 2024 World Championships
Cycling
Some heart-breaking news to bring you. 18-year-old Swiss junior Muriel Furrer has now tragically passed away following her crash on Thursday in the women's junior road race at 2024 World Championships in Zurich.
Furrer suffered serious head injuries after crashing on a slippery and rain covered descent in the junior road race and was taken to a nearby hospital in a very critical condition by an emergency helicopter. Just what exactly happened to leave Furrer hurt isn't totally clear, although, as more information comes to light, Blick are reporting that the 18-year-old was left laying in the forest by the roadside for "a long time" before any help eventually arrived on the scene.
"According to information from Blick, Furrer lay undiscovered in the forest next to the racing circuit for a long time after her fall," the report explains. "The latest information suggests that the U19 race continued in the pouring rain, while Furrer, out of sight of the accompanying motorcycles and cars that passed by again on the second lap, may have been lying seriously injured in the undergrowth."
Blick also spoke to a number of passers by at the roadside. One such individual came up with a striking comment too. "It's no surprise that something like this happened on this steep spot and in this rain," they say, perhaps alarming given that the response to Furrer took so long to get going.
"No rescue operation was observed around the forest area in question during the race. The rescue helicopter did not land in Küsnacht until around an hour after the end of the race," continues the Blick report. "In addition, a press motorcyclist said that he had not noticed anything about the serious fall during the U19 race. In other words, no rescue measures were visible."
From all associated with CyclingUpToDate.com, we send our thoughts and prayers to the family of Muriel Furrer and all who knew her.
Surly someone must of noticed her transponder hadn't moved in a while? They should have all been tracked. Awful loss I dread to think how friends and family feel.
Typically in the races it is upto one of the 2 team cars to inform the medical car/organizers of the issue. Surely one of the riders with her or behind her would have noticed something, then they relay the info to their team car which in turn relays to the concerned team car or the medical car. In this race, there are no radios however.
Transponders would only reveal a rider had stopped, not why and don’t always work well under tree cover. The organisation can be faulted for the course, especially in light of all that’s happened this year and the many warnings riders published ahead of the competition and considering the weather further increased the risks. They should AT LEAST have placed marshals at the danger points for warning and observation. We don’t know all the details yet as everyone is wording things very vaguely (e.g. long time is a very relative term) but imagining a situation where a rider goes down where there is no-one watching, it seems pretty obvious that things will take a long time. She may have been alone but even in a group, riders tend not to notice the severity of the consequences when a colleague falls, even in good conditions you don’t really have the chance to look back and watch what happens to signal it to appropriate persons, ESPECIALLY when you yourself are flying down a steep dangerous gradient in the rain with other riders up close. That is the unfortunate specificity of cycling. Considering the description (steep downhill in pouring rain) I also doubt there were any spectators along that stretch who might have been able to call for help, one more reason why the organisation should have realised marshals would have been useful. So much for Swiss efficiency
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