Top triathlete called an ‘absolute warrior’ after moving dislocated shoulder back DURING swim

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Anyone who watched the T100 London women’s race at the weekend will have seen Britain’s Megan McDonald exit the water after being helped onto a motor dinghy.

It was a desperately unfortunate early end to her race, having only got a late call up as a wild card just a few days after she finished runner-up at IRONMAN 70.3 Krakow.

She was in obvious pain on the boat, clutching her left shoulder, but she would still make her way to the finish line later – arm in a sling – to greet her fellow competitors. You can find out plenty more about her day in the YouTube video embed at the bottom of this article.

Race over after 400m

And as details have emerged she has been hailed as an “absolute warrior” by none other than world number two and current IRONMAN Pro Series champion Kat Matthews.

That came in response to McDonald’s Instagram post after Saturday’s race which explained what happened.

Megan McDonald dislocated shoulder T100 London 2025 swim — Megan McDonald is helped out of the water at T100 London [Photo credit: PTO]

Alongside the photo above, McDonald said: “Not the way I wanted my race to end 🥲

“After the first couple of buoys heading back unfortunately an athlete’s leg hit my arm as it entered the water. My arm suddenly felt numb and slumped, I couldn’t move it. I knew my shoulder had moved out of place. I was able to move it back but as I tried to swim my shoulder kept clicking. I had no strength in the arm so my race ended 400m into the swim.

“6 years ago I dislocated my shoulder very badly so the risk of it happening again is always higher.

“This is just part of racing. Thanks to the team at @t100triathlon for looking after me and getting me checked out.

“Thanks to everyone for the support. Now time to rehab on go from there. Fingers crossed I will be on a start line in 2 weeks.”

‘Casual shoulder relocation mid race’

No doubt conveying what many others were thinking, Matthews said “Absolute warrior. Megan McDonald with a casual shoulder relocation mid race 🏊‍♂️!! TEKKERS 🙌🫶. So brave xx”

Hopefully the rehab all goes to plan for Megan and she makes that next start line which she told us is Challenge Samarkand in Uzbekistan on 24th August.

She’s been involved in all four T100 races this season, with a best of 10th in Singapore.

Written by

Jonathan Turner

Jonathan Turner is News Director for both TRI247 and RUN247, and is accustomed to big-name interviews, breaking news stories and providing unrivalled coverage for endurance sports.

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