Justin Riele on his crazy crash at Oceanside: ‘My helmet saved my life’

It wasn’t part of the race coverage—but it quickly became one of the biggest stories to come out of the weekend.

American triathlete Justin Riele saw his race unravel on the bike at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside after what he later described as a sudden mechanical.

“Unfortunately, I had a front tire blowout at mile 25… slid out and took a pretty hard tumble,” he said in a video update from the hospital.

Riele went down hard on his right side, hitting both his shoulder and head in the crash. The impact was heavy enough that his helmet cracked on contact.

“Fortunately, my helmet saved my life,” he said on Instagram and as reported by tri27.com

Despite the severity of the fall, he remained conscious and was able to give an update while awaiting further checks.

“I’m about to go in for X-rays… in some pretty serious pain,” he said, adding that a broken collarbone was suspected.

That early concern was later confirmed. Riele suffered fractures to his clavicle and shoulder blade, injuries that required surgery less than a day after the crash.

In a follow-up post, he confirmed the procedure had already been completed.

“Broken clavicle and scapula confirmed… got that bad boy plated up,” he said, adding that, all things considered, things could have been worse. “Brain is the same as before the crash… so it’s mostly fine.”

While his race ended on the roadside, the focus has already shifted to recovery. Riele said he’ll be back on the trainer soon, with an eye on returning later this season.

“Gonna come back stronger,” he added.