A rallywoman rode an entire stage with a fractured spine and won the Rally of Kazakhstan
Spanish rider Cristina Gutierrez, who won the T3 category at Rally Kazakhstan, rode an entire stage with a fractured spine.
“The incident happened at 18km of the course, so Cristina then rode 249km with a double compression fracture of her spine to the finish. We are very happy with how Christina performed in this race, but we are very worried because of the injury she sustained. We hope for the best and that she will be able to go home safely in a few days. We don’t have more information about her condition yet, but at the moment the prognosis is positive,” Toyota Overdrive team manager Jean-Marc Fortin is quoted by the Cross-Country Rally telegram channel.
“We’re happy but we had an unfortunate accident today – we got a serious blow while crossing the road. Christina is now waiting to hear from the doctors as she suffered a back injury. We hit a pothole, went into it with the front end of the car and then the car landed with all its might on the back end. Christina and I practically got a knock-out. But she decided to go on as she has great fortitude, she wanted to win. But it is worth waiting for the results of the examination and the doctors’ report to see if it was a good decision or not,” said navigator François Casale.
Cristina herself thanked everyone on her Instagram page and informed that the doctors confirmed that she had fractured two vertebrae.
