Danish triathlon athlete Camilla Pedersen completed an amazing turnaround yesterday by winning the Weihai 2014 Long Distance Triathlon World Championships a year after being in a coma following a bicycle accident.
Pedersen completed the 4km swim, 120km cycle and 20km run in a time of 5 hours, 43 minutes and 31 seconds – over four minutes ahead of her nearest competitor, Kaisa Lehtonen of Finland.
“Wow, what a day, what a year,” Pedersen, 31, wrote on her Facebook page. “Today another dream came true – another goal accomplished!”
“Tomorrow will be exactly one year ago since I opened my eyes for the first time after 19 days in coma. It got celebrated today!”
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Serious head injury
Pedersen was in an artificially-induced coma for nearly three weeks in September last year after a serious bicycle accident left her with a fractured skull and bleeding in the brain.
Prior to the bicycle accident, which occurred when she swerved to avoid a group of children while training, Pedersen was in the midst of a standout season, having won the Ironman European Championships in Frankfurt.
