Image: Octopi Media.

Double 250SMX champion Haiden Deegan has moved to detail the wrist injury that affected him in stages throughout the 2024 season, undergoing surgery following the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) Final in Las Vegas and now facing an extended six weeks off the bike during this current off-season.

Despite breaking his wrist in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East pre-season and having two screws inserted, Deegan managed to race on to second in the standings, before going on to win the Pro Motocross 250MX Championship and again in SMX.

“Three weeks before the first round [of Supercross] I had a crash and ended up breaking my wrist,” Deegan recalled in an interview this week with Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Villopoto’s Title 24 podcast. “But, I wanted to race, my pre-season had gone super-good, so we went in for surgery and they gave me the option to put two screws in there so that there was no chance that the bone could move and I could race.

“So they had two screws in there, one was sticking out a little bit – they weren’t able to put it all the way into the bone. That’s been bothering me pretty bad all year, there were days where I was in a lot of pain during training and after races. Like, those outdoor nationals when I was sending it, jumping to flats, I was in a lot of pain after the races… It did hurt pretty bad.

“They went in and removed that screw, there was even a little bit of ligament damage from that screw sticking out, so we got that fixed up. I think my recovery will be a little longer than everyone expected, it’s not just take a screw out and be back on the bike in two weeks. I actually do have to take some time off and recover the wrist, because there was that little bit of damage from having that screw. It’ll be four weeks before I do any training, then back on the bike at around the six-week mark.”

Deegan sitting out this weekend’s Motocross of Nations (MXoN) at Matterley Basin has been a constant talking point over the past month, instead opting to have his surgery completed in order to focus on 2025 and with the target of a first 250SX title, but he has indicated that he intends to represent Team USA next year if the opportunity presents itself again.

“It’d be a dream come true to race Nations,” he added. “You’re racing against all the top guys from different countries. Obviously, you have to race the champs from MXGP as well, that was always the goal too. I feel like if you win MXoN, you kind of solidify yourself as the best 250 guy in the world, so if I’m healed and everything goes to plan, I definitely want to give it a run next year.”