German sprinter to make an appearance at Berlin World Cup
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Gold medalist Germany's Kristina Vogel celebrates on the podium after taking part in the women's sprint final during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Gold medalist Germany's Kristina Vogel (L) and Bronze medalist Germany's Pauline Sophie Grabosch celebrate after women's sprint final during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships (Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Germany's gold medallists Miriam Welte, Kristina Vogel and Pauline Sophie Grabosch celebrate on the podium after victory in the women's team sprint final race at The UCI World Cycling Championships (Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Germany's Kristina Vogel takes part in a qualifying round for the women's sprint (Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Women's keirin winner Nicky Degrendele (Belgium) is congratulated by Kristina Vogel (Germany)(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Kristina Vogel has announced that she will return to a major track event for the first time since a training accident that left her paralysed.
Since her accident, Vogel has been doing her rehabilitation in Berlin, and in a video posted on the UCI's track cycling Twitter page, she confirmed that she will be at the Saturday session at the third round of the UCI Track World Cup in Berlin this weekend.
"First of all, I wanted to say thank you to the masses of messages that I've got from you. The past few weeks and months have been hard, I'm not going to lie, but to read the messages from you have made me feel so much better and have given me so much strength and power, and have motivated me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," Vogel said.
"I hope to see you at the track cycling World Cup in Berlin because it's in my town because I’m doing my rehabilitation here in Berlin. I want to see you because I miss you all so much. I miss competing and seeing you competing. I want to see my friends from all over the world."
The 28-year-old Vogel – a two-time Olympic Gold medallist and 11-time World Champion on the track – crashed heavily while training in June. She was doing sprint efforts at around 60kph with German teammate Pauline Grabosch when she collided with a rider that had just entered the track. Vogel was airlifted to hospital and put into an induced coma with doctors describing her injuries as life-changing.
There was little further information after that, allowing Vogel time to begin her recovery and come to terms with her injuries. In September, Vogel did an interview with German publication Der Spiegel where she confirmed that she was paralysed from the waist down.
Since September, Vogel has been very active on her social media and has posted several videos of her trying a range of different sports, including archery and wheelchair basketball.
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