FROM A COMA..TO THE PODIUM

Equestrian's journey after almost dying in horror fall

- JEREMY ARMSTRONG

A BRITISH equestrian won gold and bronze in Paris yesterday to cap a remarkable story of triumph over adversity.

Laura Collett, 34, took gold in the team eventing alongside Ros Canter and Tom McEwen Team GB's first in 2024.

Then, astride her mount London 52, she got bronze in the individual eventing contest behind Germany's Michael Jung and Australian Christopher Burton.

Her triumphs come 11 years after a horror accident in a cross-country event almost killed her.

Her 700kg horse fell on top of her, leaving her with two broken ribs, a punctured lung, a lacerated liver and a fractured shoulder.

Resuscitated in an ambulance, she was rushed from Hampshire's Tweseldown Racecourse to hospital and put into an induced coma for six days.

On top of all that, a fragment of bone from her shoulder got into her bloodstream and ended up damaging an optic nerve, leaving her blind in her right eye.

Laura feared her elite riding career was over. But she got back on a horse just two weeks after leaving hospital.

After being presented with the team gold by Olympic equestrian veteran Princess Anne, left, yesterday, Laura said: "I never thought this day would come.

"I owe absolutely everything to that horse and the team that have made it possible just to get here.

"I am so lucky that I'm the one who gets to ride into an arena like that. There have been so many years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears.