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Michael van den Ham fixes own dislocated finger mid-race and still finishes the ‘cross worlds

Canadian shows remarkable grit in Hoogerheide

Early in Sunday’s elite men’s cyclocross world championships event, Michael van den Ham’s race took an unfortunate turn. Or, rather, one of his fingers did. The Canadian dislocated his finger in a crash on the muddy Hoogerheide course.

When van den Ham got up from the crash, one finger on his left hand was pointed at what he described on Instagram as “the grossest 45-degree angle.”

Showing quick thinking and some serious toughness, the four-time Canadian national champ grabbed his finger with his good hand and snapped it back into place with a hefty jerk.

Television cameras caught the entire ordeal on the live broadcast so van den Ham can re-live what is surely a memorable worlds race any time he wants. Or at least show the doctors exactly what happened when he gets back from The Netherlands.

Van den Ham posted the video online if you need to watch. It’s soundtracked perfectly to Snap Out Of It by the Arctic Monkeys. While his finger probably doesn’t feel perfect, his sense of humour is clearly in tact.

Van den Ham hopped back on his bike and continued the race, eventually finishing 33rd. Impressive stuff, especially considering how much pain he must have been in during the race.

Van den Ham wasn’t the only Canadian who had a memorable weekend at world championships in Hoogerheide. Sisters Isabella and Ava Holmgren finished first and second in the junior women’s event, earning Canada’s first world championship title in cyclocross.