A collision involving a cart carrying the men’s 200m runners to their semi-final at the Athletics World Championships sent glass shards flying into the right eye of Jamaican sprinter Andrew Hudson, forcing him to race with blurred vision.
The 26-year-old, racing in his first World Championships, said doctors had flushed some of the glass out after the accident and that although he couldn’t see out of his right eye, he decided to race nonetheless.
He finished fifth, but track officials decided to advance him into Friday’s final, which will include nine sprinters, not the usual eight, with American Noah Lyles the favourite.
“I did the best I could do,” Hudson said after finishing in 20.38s. “I was sitting in the middle of the room for like 20 minutes, trying to have a decision if I was going to compete or not.
“I worked hard to be here. And even under circumstances, everybody has hurdles in life. If I can run I’m going to try my best. So I tried.”
An aerial video taken outside the stadium shows the cart cruising along when another cart coming from a path to the left hits the athletes’ cart, sending a volunteer in the first cart tumbling out. The video then shifts to inside the athlete cart where Hudson is pressing his fingers against his right eye.
World Athletics said the sprinter was examined by doctors and cleared to compete. It said the volunteer was “also fine.” A spokesman from Budapest’s local organising committee said it is “investigating the incident and reviewing the transport procedures.”
“I feel like it all happened in slow motion,” Hudson said. “Unfortunately, I was sitting on the side where another buggy crashed into us,
“A bunch of glass went into my right eye. I went to medical for about 20 minutes. My eyesight is pretty blurry every time I open my eye. I was trying to get the glass out of my eye. I went back to medical, the doctor said I had some shards of glass in my eye.
“He tried to push out as best as possible. World Athletics asked me if I was going to run or not. It was kind of run or lose my spot. I worked so hard to be here, so I thought I would at least try.
“It was scary. It’s my eyesight. That’s more important. I’m not going to run track forever, but it just happens.”
The race got pushed back about a half hour — run last in the series of three semi-finals instead of first.
“It was a big fright,” said Tarsis Orogot, who finished third. “We’re not paying attention. We were all just locked in and then out of nowhere, someone shoved into us there.”
“It throws everybody off,” said fourth-place finisher Brendon Rodney. “You have a delay, so what are you going to do?”
Noah Lyles finished the semi-final in first, with Hudson fifth— (EPA)
All Hudson could do was line up and go. Afterwards, he said he planned to go back to the medical tent to further assess the damage. He’ll be in the final on Friday — if he is able to race.
“I don’t know what happened. It’s a blur, literally,” Hudson said. “The race was a blur. My eyesight is a blur. I’m going to go make sure my eyesight is OK.
“It is my first World Championships so it’s going to be memorable... Maybe I’d better walk next time.”
Heavy favourite Lyles won the semi-final in the night’s fastest time, 19.76s, giving him a chance to defend his 200m title and add it to the 100m crown he won earlier this week.
“Survived a crash and still got the fastest time going into the final,” Lyles posted on Instagram. “Thank you God for watching over me.”
It’s not the first time something that had nothing to do with sprinting has made more news than the race itself. In 2015, Usain Bolt was celebrating his 200m title at the Worlds in Beijing when he got upended by a photographer riding a scooter on the edge of the track. Bolt popped up and laughed it off.
