There was great confusion ahead of the men’s 200m semi-final heats. When it came time for the first heat, the runners for the second heat showed up to run and no one understood why. After that, the second heat also ran its race and finally the runners from the first heat came in to compete for the final places.
In the end, information emerged that claimed that two transport vehicles had collided on the road between the training arena and the competition arena and that the buses contained active participants who were to compete in the first heat.
– It must not happen, that they collide simply means that they are driving too fast. I’ve never seen it before. When you have talked to other active people, they also think that it goes fast in these vehicles and that you have to hold on during the transport, says TV4 expert Michel Tornéus and continues:
– Then there are also cars driving around the arena and under the arena on roads and they drive very fast. I think that it must not happen and that it must be safe to ride these routes as an active person.
When it was time for the race, all eight participants came to the start. Pre-favourite Noah Lyles and Alexander Ogando advanced via placement, but afterwards Jamaican Andrew Hudson, who finished fifth in the race, was awarded a free place in the final.
The reason was that Hudson received shards of glass in his eye during the collision and had impaired vision during the race.
– It is difficult to say whether it was the right decision. I don’t know if it was a long-term injury, but he had impaired vision and didn’t get a fair chance. We discussed the matter and wondered if it could have been done in some other way by, for example, an additional qualifier afterwards. But if the organizer thinks it was best, they can go ahead with it.
Never seen anything like it
One of TV4’s experts who has been around several major championships for a long time, A Lennart Julin, has never heard of a similar incident.
– No, what can happen is that the active are affected by sheer clumsiness, that officials get in the way or forget to set up obstacles on the 3,000 meter obstacle, for example. Most of the time, the active people usually walk between the arenas, but now the location of the arenas means that they consider this to be the most suitable means of transport, says Julin.
Correct decision by the organizer
Julin is also on Tornéu’s side regarding Hudson being awarded a free place in the final. He believes that it is a reasonable way out after the incident.
– He does not take a place because there is actually a vacant lane. He himself is completely innocent and was hit by shards of glass. At the same time, the competitors did not suffer any disadvantage, except for a possible shock effect. Usually when something unfortunate happens, you can’t compensate, says Julin before summing up:
– If you get the wrong bottle of water at a Marathon and get sick to your stomach, you cannot rerun the race immediately. It is not possible to write rules for this, you have to make a judgment for what makes sense and decent when someone is affected. But that bus driver probably won’t make many trips during this championship.
The men’s 200-meter final will be decided on Friday evening, starting at 9:50 p.m. Then Lyles and Hudson, among others, will be on the starting line.
Stream the Athletics World Championships on TV4 Play
TV4 broadcasts from the Athletics World Championships in Budapest 2023 between 19 and 27 August with several Swedish medal hopefuls and international world stars.