Marc Potts won some of the biggest road races in Ireland and represented Ireland on road and track but was hit by a driver in the build-up to the Tokyo Olympics, when he was funded by Sport Ireland (Photo: Alex Whitehead-SWpix.com)

Former international rider Marc Potts has been awarded £67,500 – or just over €77,000 – in compensation, and expenses, after he was knocked off his bike by a driver when he was in contention to be selected for the Olympics.

Potts, who was a top road and track rider at the time, had been funded by Sport Ireland just weeks before the crash in April, 2019, with a view to qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. Riders are funded based on their Olympic prospects.

He was a regular with the Irish track team at the time as it was trying to qualify for the Games in the Madison. He was in contention for selection along with Mark Downey, Felix English and Fintan Ryan.

Part of his case before the High Court was that the crash derailed his cycling career and meant he was effectively robbed of the chance of Olympic selection. The Irish team places were eventually taken by Downey and English, with Ryan as a reserve.

However, despite the fact he was funded at the time – along with Downey and English – the High Court in Belfast did not agree he would have been picked for the Games, thus fulfilling a life ambition of becoming an Olympian.

Marc Potts, right, celebrates as he wins the 59th edition of the Shay Elliott Memorial, from Craig McAuley in 2016 in Co Wicklow (Photo: Stephen McMahon-Bray Wheelers)

Potts was funded during several years of his cycling career and won many major road races – including the National Criterium Championships and the Shay Elliott Memorial Classic, regarded as the hardest and most prestigious road race apart from the National Championships.

He represented Ireland at senior level on both road and track. He was also 4th in the scratch race at the track Europeans in 2017 and was also selected for the road Europeans for Ireland in Scotland in 2018.

Potts (34) was hit by a driver in April, 2019, while he was on his bike just outside Omagh, Co Tyrone. He sustained a broken shoulder, along with other, soft tissue, injuries. The driver admitted liability, meaning the size of the damages he was entitled to was the only detail to be decided by the High Court in Belfast.

Potts said that, aside from the injuries he sustained in the crash, the incident also aggravated an old wrist injury, which undermined his ability to train and race to the level he once had.

The court was told when Potts went to a training camp in Mallorca later in 2019 he could not regain his former condition. He contended the crash meant he was denied his chance at Olympic selection and also selection for other major races, including the Commonwealth Games and possibly the Paris Olympics.

However, the court concluded Downey and English were destined to be selected for the Games, with the court citing the fact they were on a higher grade of funding from Sport Ireland in 2019 when the crash took place.

Mr Justice Simpson also believed the trouble Potts had with his wrist could attributed to a worsening injury from 2017, when he fractured it, rather than the 2019 making it worse.

However, Potts was awarded £50,000 for the injuries he sustained in the crash and £5,000 for the interruption caused to his cycling career. He was also awarded £12,500 for damage to his bike and kit and to cover some medical appointments he attended after the crash.