Matti took a big crash today in his final run at the Scandinavian Championships in Sweden, luckily paramedics were there within minutes and could quickly get him to hospital where he's currently undergoing surgery. It doesn't appear to be anything life threatening, but he's definitely suffered fractures to his face.
Matti Lehikoinen down..
- Thread starter Bedlam
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Jesus christ man!
That dude needs to take up golf. Hope he's alright, broken faces ain't cool.
That dude needs to take up golf. Hope he's alright, broken faces ain't cool.
what he said, matti is one of the toughest people on the circuit, but fyck me he needs to take up a less abusive sport.
WTF? Awesome rider, and now he's down again, but damn, was he ever up?
How exactly does one break ones face with fullface on anyway...that had to have been ugly.
How exactly does one break ones face with fullface on anyway...that had to have been ugly.
Jesus Matti. Heal up quick.
Ugh, painful. Healing vibes.
Not again! 
Blimey, Matti really has taken some stacks in his time bit of and animal. Hope it's nothing too serious
Some insight on Matti's condition from Robin Wallner's blog teamarebikepark.blogspot.com:
"The joy of winning wasn´t very long lasting as i pretty quickly understood that Matti had crashed bad and was seriously injured.
All i realy know is that he hit his head so hard that the helmet colapsed and he has likely broke his jaw, nose and lost a few teeths.
Hopefully his head-trauma is not as bad as it could be but the last news i had was that he was in intensive care and under surgery at the moment so i will try and visit him tomorrow if the hospital will allow me.
I feel so sorry for him that at the moment i haven´t reflected much about winning the race.
Will be back with some news soon.
//R"
"The joy of winning wasn´t very long lasting as i pretty quickly understood that Matti had crashed bad and was seriously injured.
All i realy know is that he hit his head so hard that the helmet colapsed and he has likely broke his jaw, nose and lost a few teeths.
Hopefully his head-trauma is not as bad as it could be but the last news i had was that he was in intensive care and under surgery at the moment so i will try and visit him tomorrow if the hospital will allow me.
I feel so sorry for him that at the moment i haven´t reflected much about winning the race.
Will be back with some news soon.
//R"
This really sucks! Matti seems like such a nice guy and a real good talent on his bike... such a shame. Healing vibes for him!
those face guards wont do too much if you land hard enough on them. plus the helmet could have moved around when he landed.
if that man did have bad luck, hed have no luck at all.
hoping he bounces back like he always does!
My buddy matt flipped over in a rock garden and had a pointy rock smash thru his goggles and shatter the bones in his face all the way from between his eyebrows, around his eye and up to his nose....not as hard as you'd think.
Some more news from team sponsor CRC:
"It’s with great sadness to let you know that Team ChainReactionCycles.com/Nukeproof rider Matti Lehikoinen was involved in a serious crash while racing at the Nordic Downhill Championships in Kungsberget-Sweden over the weekend.
Full details of the incident are as yet unclear, but the crash happened during the finals of the event in which local rider Robin Wallner and Matti were battling it out for the win. Robin wrote on his blog: “As I was about to exit the woods I saw Matti on the ground next to the track.”
We’re glad to say that although Matti has undergone two brain scans already, doctors have confirmed that no brain damage has been done and he’s currently in a stable condition in hospital. We spoke to Matti’s partner, Anna, who told us, “Matti’s jaw, cheekbone, teeth and nose are pretty badly damaged, and he will have surgery on Wednesday.”
We will keep you informed as to the latest on Matti’s condition. Everyone at CRC, the team and sponsors which him a fast recovery. Post your messages of support on the Team's Facebook page now."
"It’s with great sadness to let you know that Team ChainReactionCycles.com/Nukeproof rider Matti Lehikoinen was involved in a serious crash while racing at the Nordic Downhill Championships in Kungsberget-Sweden over the weekend.
Full details of the incident are as yet unclear, but the crash happened during the finals of the event in which local rider Robin Wallner and Matti were battling it out for the win. Robin wrote on his blog: “As I was about to exit the woods I saw Matti on the ground next to the track.”
We’re glad to say that although Matti has undergone two brain scans already, doctors have confirmed that no brain damage has been done and he’s currently in a stable condition in hospital. We spoke to Matti’s partner, Anna, who told us, “Matti’s jaw, cheekbone, teeth and nose are pretty badly damaged, and he will have surgery on Wednesday.”
We will keep you informed as to the latest on Matti’s condition. Everyone at CRC, the team and sponsors which him a fast recovery. Post your messages of support on the Team's Facebook page now."
good God. others have said it already but his luck is terrible. I hope he heals up well, and that he makes a good solid comeback. I'd love to see him at the top of his game again.
Wow that is terrible. Hope he heals up quick. He might want to take some time off riding...
Horrible news.
What kind of full face was he wearing?
The face guards on DOT helmets have to pass a certain safety standard. The face protector on pretty much every bike helmet seems quite flimsy.
What kind of full face was he wearing?
The face guards on DOT helmets have to pass a certain safety standard. The face protector on pretty much every bike helmet seems quite flimsy.
He does not wear a TLD, only Lewis Buchanan on CRC runs a TLD moto helmet. The rest of the team wears another brand.
yeah that is also true... but you never really know the magnitude of the crash unless you see one up front! He must have hit really hard!
So unfortunate for Matti to get hurt again...
For bikes:
The ASTM 1952 DH standard is the only MTB standard that includes a chin bar test. The typical CPSC standard (only requirement for sale in US) has no chin bar requirement. I highly recommend shopping for helmets with the ASTM 1952 requirement.
DOT helmets do NOT have to pass a chin bar requirement. Snell certified moto helmets do pass a chin bar requirement.
For bikes:
The ASTM 1952 DH standard is the only MTB standard that includes a chin bar test. The typical CPSC standard (only requirement for sale in US) has no chin bar requirement. I highly recommend shopping for helmets with the ASTM 1952 requirement.
Sorry I meant SNELL, thanks for the correction!
How many MTB helmets are ASTM certified? TLD D3, Bell Drop
Either way I'm sure the motorcycle standard is tougher than the bike standard.
Good lord, is there anyone out there has had worse luck than Matti?
I hope for a speedy recovery for him. Best of luck Matti!!
I hope for a speedy recovery for him. Best of luck Matti!!
SNELL moto and ASTM DH use the same setup for chin bar tests, but the SNELL uses a slightly higher impact speed.
Helmets that claim to meet ASTM 1952 DH standard: TLD D3, Bell Drop, Giro Remedy, Fox V3R, SixSixOne EVO, Specialized Deviant, Specialized Dissident...
With a proper hit you can smash any helmet and Matti seems like a guy to know how to crash hard so I doubt it's any more informative than the fact that new 888s break when you huck them at rampage.
For proof - look up that d3 crash vid where a guy eats his helmet. ASTM certified, not that fast speed crash but he ate a tree. It wasn't the helmet, just bad luck.
Do you know the speed difference?
That can be said for anything. I'll take my chances with the helmet rated for higher speeds everyday of the week.
Dirt had a nice article about mx vs dh helmets and according to their helmet prophet in some cases a dh helmet is actually safer. I think one of the arguments was that it was designed to absorb energy at slower speeds. Isn't dot, snell etc a certificate for all motorbikes, not mx only? That makes it even worse. Do you really race at roadbike speeds?
Also if you are so hellbent on using moto than why are you asking what helmet was he riding? Do we really have to resort to pinkbike logic when 1, not necessairly faulty part means that the whole batch is crap?
I don't really want to get into and derail this thread any further, but the SNELL speed is 25% faster. If you're really curious about the details, feel free to PM me.
Like Norbar alluded to, we obviously don't know enough details to say that Matti's helmet was/wasn't the issue.
Like Norbar alluded to, we obviously don't know enough details to say that Matti's helmet was/wasn't the issue.