Sir Chris Hoy has revealed he was told his right leg might have to be amputated after his horror bike crash last year.
The six-time Olympic gold medallist, who announced in October 2024 that he had terminal stage four prostate cancer, suffered multiple fractures in the ‘worst crash I’ve had’.
Hoy, 50, came off his mountain bike while riding in Wales in November, which left him in a major trauma ward. He underwent major surgery with metal rods and screws placed into his lower leg.
The Scot has now revealed was warned by doctors he was at risk of compartment syndrome – a dangerous condition involving a sudden increase in pressure inside a muscle that restricts blood flow – and may lose his leg.
‘There is a risk of amputation for anybody in that situation, the doctors tell you that,’ Hoy said on his Sporting Misadventures podcast.
‘Compartment syndrome is the risk and I was given the warning. It is quite a sobering thought when you are lying there in this strange hospital ward and you are about to go for your operation. To be fair the doctors are very aware of compartment syndrome and that’s one of the things that they are hyper-vigilant about.’
Hoy escaped any lasting damage after successful treatment for his injuries but said he could not bring himself to watch footage of the accident, which was captured on a camera he wore on his chest.
Sir Chris Hoy has revealed his right leg was at risk of amputation after the horror accident
The accident happened in early November, when he was out on his mountain bike with friends
‘I launched off this jump and overshot it and my leg and knee just exploded,’ he said.
‘There will always be some compromise in [the leg]. It’s been a tough few months but I feel like I’m out the worst of it now.
‘I had a camera on my chest so I have full footage of the run but I still haven’t downloaded it.
‘I don’t think I really need to or want to see it because it was such a painful experience that the less I remember about it the better.
‘I can still ride my bike but I think the days of me sending it over big jumps and doing stupid stuff that would have been appropriate when I was about 15 are gone.’
Hoy said in January that he was back cycling as he shared details of his recovery from the crash.
In a video posted to Instagram, Hoy showed the ‘chunky scars’ on his bruised and swollen leg.
Hoy, who was initially given between two and four years to live when diagnosed with cancer, said in May that his condition was ‘stable’.
Hoy, 50, has undergone successful treatment and was back out on his bike 12 weeks after the accident
Speaking in December, he said: ‘Once you’ve got past the diagnosis, which for me was over two years ago, now the first part of that is pretty grim and then you start the treatment,’ he added.
‘Then, if you’re lucky like me, you respond to the treatment and enter a period of kind of stability.
‘It’s not completely stable, there’s times where it comes back and then you have to change treatment, but the fortunate thing for me in my situation, there are a number of different treatments out there, as there is for any man with prostate cancer.
‘It’s putting faith in science and knowing that right today, there are countless people all around the world working on new medications, new treatments, and with the hope that one day it won’t be a terminal diagnosis, but I’m doing fine.’
