The order of the men’s 200-meter semi-finals was changed on Thursday after two vehicles that were escorting athletes to the stadium crashed into each other.
A golf cart shuttling world 100-meter champion Noah Lyles to the stadium from the warm-up track collided with another golf cart, causing a scheduling change. The athletes in heat two, instead of running second, were moved up to run first to allow the athletes involved in the crash more time to recover, according to Ato Bolden on the NBC broadcast.
In a video posted on the Virgin Media Sport Twitter account, the golf carts can be seen crashing into each other, knocking at least one person out of the vehicle. According to Virgin Media Sport, Noah Lyles can be heard saying “He thinks he got glass in his eye,” in reference to Jamaican sprinter Andrew Hudson. Hudson can be seen rubbing his right eye in the video.
Instead of warming up at the meet’s main stadium—Budapest’s brand-new National Athletics Centre—athletes warm up at another track facility across a small river, before they are escorted to the main facility by golf carts.
In an interview with NBC after the race, Lyles explained more about what happened. He said that, on the way to the competition facility, there was a miscommunication about which golf cart was going to stop as the two crossed a bridge, causing one to t-bone another.
“Thankfully, I had no issues,” Lyles said when asked about his health. “Unfortunately, Andrew Hudson did seem to get some glass in his eye, which was the holdup. You know, I think everybody was really worried about him.”
World Athletics released a statement on the incident: “The 200m heats reorder was due to the collision of two golf carts. One athlete and a volunteer were assessed and the athlete cleared to participate. He competed in the last heat. The volunteer is also fine. The Local Organising Committee is investigating the incident and reviewing the transport procedures.”
The incident, however, didn’t appear to negatively affect Lyles’s performance. He comfortably won his heat out of lane 8, easing up at the line in 19.75. Hudson, who reportedly was examined by medical staff, finished fifth in the heat in 20.38, which was not fast enough to advance him to the final. However, officials later decided to advance him to the final in the wake of the incident.
Theo Kahler is the news editor at Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
