Rebecca Henderson Ruptured Ankle Ligament Ahead of Australian National XC Championships

Mar 25, 2024
by Sarah Moore  

Rebecca Henderson has shared that she has a complete rupture of the ATFL in her ankle and a partial tear of the anterior deltoid ligament after a small and slow speed crash before Nationals in Awaba. Impressively, Henderson was able to secure third place at the Australian National XC Championships and third place at the Oceania Cycling Championships 2024, despite revealing that walking and moving freely are a "bit of a battle."

Henderson won the World Cup season opener last time it was in Petrópolis, Brazil and went on to finish second in the 2022 overall World Cup standings. The season kicks off once again in Brazil this year, with races April 12-14 in Mairiporã, Brazil and April 19-21 in Araxá, Brazil.

bigquotesEvery summer there are just 2 races I am always trying to bring my A game. National and Oceania Championships. They are also the races we were using to be ready for the opening World Cup's which are coming up early April in Brazil.

Last Thursday after arriving to Awaba for Nationals I had a very small and low speed crash. As far as we can imagine it was simply just how I pulled my foot out of the pedal. Before I even touched the ground I was in such pain. Instant swelling. Nausea, dizziness and ringing ears just from the intense pain. Getting out of the forest was a challenge that I'm not sure I could have done alone!!

Not ideal timing for the two important races of the summer or ahead of the big races but onward we go.

Fortunately all advice from the best we know both in Aus and Spain has been optimisic and in line, so I'm on my way back to Canberra and we will start the rehab and play it day by day.

The ankle update:
Complete rupture (grade 3) injuries of the ATFL and the calcaneal attachment of the CFL. The PTFL is intact.

Contusion related partial tear (grade 2) of the anterior deltoid ligament with a sprain demonstrated elsewhere.

With good taping and support riding my bike is surprisingly relatively pain free but walking and moving freely is still a bit of a battle.

Yesterday at Oceania's I just couldn't ask more from my body. My ankle was quite OK but my feelings on the bike and in general have taken a beating. I gave the best with what I had, but what I had wasn't much.

The old girl feels like she's aged another 30 years, send help.
Rebecca Henderson

We wish Henderson all the best with her recovery.


Scroll through to the last image to see the brusied ankle.

Author Info:
sarahmoore avatar

Member since Mar 30, 2011
1,330 articles

35 Comments
  • 30 0
 Damn, XC racers really are a different breed. That's some next level toughness there.
  • 1 0
 Like the hockey players of MTB!
  • 12 0
 Rebecca Henderson actually secured her eleventh consecutive Elite national title with a win of just over two minutes on second-placed Zoe Cuthbert. Not a 3rd place as stated in the article.
  • 2 0
 Woah, what an absolute weapon!
  • 2 0
 She was third in the short track.
  • 9 0
 "despite revealing that walking and moving freely are a 'bit of a battle'" ...the wiener dog in the second pic says welcome to the party.
  • 8 1
 ATFL, CFL, PTFL ??? As a not native English speaker, I would appreciate it if you could avoid using all these abbreviations in the future. Thank you
  • 12 1
 As an english speaker I dont know those abbreviations but Google (other search engines are available) tells me:

anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL)
calcaneo-fibular ligament (CFL)
Posterior talofibular ligament (PTFL)

You are welcome.
  • 5 0
 @paulskibum: Thanks that is what I always do, too. I just wanted to place my wish on the authors of content here to use fewer abbreviations in general.
  • 9 0
 @futureearth: Maybe they don't know either but are you hoping you wouldn't notice....
  • 2 1
 @paulskibum: I don't understand these latin names neither. Only staring at Rebecca in the picture how she's going to roll over the log a top of rock. Delicate skills for XC racer.
  • 3 0
 @fluider: this feature is at the top of a climb and the next feature on the climb is maybe 3m away and is just a log hop up with no rocks, it was a really tough track
  • 4 0
 @fluider: normal skills for XC racer, they are highly skilled
  • 1 0
 Her ankle is really sore and probably reallllllll fat with swelling. "She tore ligaments in her ankle" probably would suffice for everyone without a medical background.
  • 5 0
 These pic's give a better indication of how bruised her kankle is ..
www.instagram.com/p/C4m7yHRvHnS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA=
  • 2 0
 Those pics are gnarly! Hope she heals up quickly.
  • 1 0
 That is...worse than I was expecting. Dear lord how did she ride at all
  • 2 0
 Such a champion, in every sense of the word. Bec is such an amazing athlete!
  • 1 0
 Mild ATFL sprain this Labour Day stepping off onto a wet log, ruined my entire fall riding. What a beast!
  • 1 0
 Blame the tires!!! (Joke) seriously though that sounds painful.
  • 1 3
 Henderson hurt her ankle, Maxwell, alltough winning Oceania Champs, will miss first WC rounds due tue mental treatment, same goes for Bloechlinger (minus Oceania Champs, obvs )

What's happening with the XCO women
  • 6 0
 Like us, they are human. Take as much time as you need, ladies.
  • 1 0
 Nothing out of the norm. I think it's simply a sign of general awareness and interest in women's xco is as high as its ever been... so they are in our news more often
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