Jeffrey Herlings Injures Foot, Title Defense in Jeopardy [Update with Video]
![Jeffrey Herlings Injures Foot, Title Defense in Jeopardy [Update with Video]](http://rxi.iscdn.net/2022/01/241653_2021_world_champion.jpg?ar=3:2&fit=crop)
Just 24 hours after Jeffrey Herlings dominated the opening round of the Campeonato de España series in Spain as a pre-season training race for the MXGP season, it appears Herlings has suffered an injury while training. The 27-year-old Dutchman has reportedly injured his foot in a training crash at Red Sand MX Park in eastern Spain. While details of the extent of his injury are currently unknown, it does appear to be serious enough at the moment to put Herlings' chances of racing the opening MXGP round in two weeks in jeopardy according to On Track Off-Road.
Unreal luck for the #MXGP world champion again. Innocuous crash apparently, another foot injury at RedSands after the accident in 2019. Herlings should find out the severity of his left foot tonight but that should mean 2 out of the 3 2021 title contenders won't make the 1st GP.
— OTOR (@OntrackOffroad) January 31, 2022
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MXGP took to Instagram moments ago to further explain that Herlings will undergo further evaluation to see what the next course of action will be.
The opening round of the 2022 MXGP World Motocross Championship kicks off in just 20 days at Matterley Basin in Great Britain. If Herlings' foot injury is indeed serious enough to miss some time, the Dutchman would still only have about a month to be ready for round two in Italy with the third round coming just two weeks after that in Argentina.
We will continue to provide updates as they become available on Herlings' condition and expected timeframe of how long he may be sidelined for.
[UPDATE: wednesday, february 2]
We have now received a video of the crash
Herlings crash un Spain. @JasonWeigandt@pulpmx@racerxonline@rotoxmotopic.twitter.com/ziolnSjMhy
— Davis Livs (@DavisLivs) February 1, 2022
KTM has provided an update on Herlings early Wednesday morning, stating he has underwent surgery on his heel. Below is the full statement.
MXGP World Champion Jeffrey Herlings undergoes successful foot surgery
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings has completed a surgical process to fix a broken heel bone in his left foot due to a mishap while riding in Spain on Monday 31st of January.
The reigning MXGP World Champion, who claimed victory in the opening round of the Spanish national championship the day beforehand as part of his warm-up preparations for the forthcoming 2022 MXGP season, was unseated on a small and routine jump section of the former Grand Prix site RedSand MX complex near Castellon.
Herlings, 27, hit his left heel in the resulting crash. The Dutchman organised travel back to his home in Belgium and after consultation, underwent surgery performed by Dr Stefaan Verfaillie (who worked on his previous ailment in 2019) to insert several screws and a supporting plate to fix the damage.
Jeffrey, his medical advisers and the Red Bull KTM team will now oversee his recovery for a return to action when fully fit and ready to race.
Jeffrey Herlings
“We’re paying the price for a ‘nothing’ crash. I think I might have hit a small stone on the take-off and that put me over the bars. The impact was pretty big on my left foot and we needed to get it fixed the best we could. Big thanks to the medical staff for looking after me and getting my foot repaired, again! Also to the whole Red Bull KTM team: we’d worked hard for this 2022 season and the goal now is to be back and winning as soon as we can.”
Joel Smets, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager
“Of course this is very disappointing for Jeffrey, the team and the championship. Trying to look at the positive side the injury is not as complicated as his foot problem in 2019. The operation took some time but everything went well and we hope Jeffrey can be out of a cast in less than two weeks and can even start some light training such as swimming and some other activities. Then we’ll have to see how he recovers to plan his GP return.”
