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An international cyclist injured in a road collision at a time when he hoped to qualify for the Olympic Games is to receive £55,000 in damages, the High Court has ruled.
Marc Potts, 34, was awarded the payout for being knocked off his bike by car on the outskirts of Omagh, Co Tyrone.
But a judge rejected claims that he missed out on being selected to represent Ireland at the Tokyo Olympics because of the accident.
Mr Potts, a track cyclist who competed at world and European championship events, retired from professional racing in 2021.
Two years earlier he suffered a broken shoulder blade, cuts and lacerations when struck by a car while out riding on the Clanabogan Road.
With liability for the April 2019 collision admitted by the driver of the vehicle, proceedings on the level of damages to be awarded.
Mr Potts, from Co Tyrone, contended the accident aggravated a previous wrist injury, affecting his ability to train and participate in events to the same standard.
Up until that point the cyclist was “100%” adamant he would be going to the 2020 Olympics which were delayed by a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the court heard.
He had hoped to compete in both the Madison and Omnium race events at games in Tokyo.
Following the accident, however, he could not get back to the same level of training and was described as a shadow of his former self at a camp held in Majorca later that year.
“He never became an Olympian,” Mr Justice Simpson stated.
“Initially, he was heartbroken, then bitter and now nurses a residual annoyance at such a missed opportunity.”
Mr Potts now coaches and runs a successful fitness equipment business.
According to his lawyers, he suffered financially from not being able to charge more for coaching if he had gone to Tokyo.
The injuries also denied him the chance to compete in subsequent Olympic and Commonwealth Games by continuing as a professional cyclist until 2026, it was claimed.
Based on the evidence, Mr Justice Simpson found that a deterioration in the condition of his wrist related to a fracture sustained in 2017 rather than the April 2019 accident.
He also held that Mr Potts’ Olympic prospects had not been ended by the road collision.
Citing a record of performances in events before the accident, the judge identified an intense level of competition.
A Sport Ireland grading scheme at the time ranked the plaintiff in an ‘international’ category while two other cyclists picked for the games, Mark Downey and Felix English, were graded as ‘world class’.
“The plaintiff has failed to persuade me, on the balance of probabilities, that he would have been selected for the Tokyo Olympics,” the judge held.
“All the contemporaneous, objective evidence suggests that, irrespective of the plaintiff’s accident, the Irish selectors had concluded that Downey and English would go as competitors.”
Mr Potts’ assertion that he would have continued in professional cycling until his mid-thirties was also rejected.
“I consider his evidence that he would have competed at two Commonwealth Games events and the Paris Olympics (in 2024) to be no more than wishful thinking, at best,” Mr Justice Simpson said.
“I consider, on the balance of probabilities, that the plaintiff would have retired from cycling around the time he did even if the accident had not happened.”
Mr Potts was awarded £50,000 damages for the physical injuries and psychiatric consequences of the accident, plus £5,000 to cover the interruption to his cycling career at the time.
He is also to receive a further £12,500 for the damage to his bike, personal belongings and cost of travelling to medical appointments.
