BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A collision involving a cart carrying Noah Lyles and his opponents in the 200-meter semifinals at world championships Thursday sent glass shards flying into the right eye of Jamaica's Andrew Hudson, forcing him to race with blurred vision.
An aerial video taken outside the stadium shows the cart carrying the athletes cruising down a sidewalk to bring the athletes to the warm-up room near the track. An oncoming cart hits the athletes' cart and a volunteer tumbles out of the first cart.
The video then shifts to inside the cart where Hudson is pressing his fingers against his right eye. He was cleared to compete, but after finishing fifth, said he couldn't really see.
"I can’t see out of my right eye, but I’m OK," Hudson said after the race. “The doctor flushed out some shards of glass.”
He said he was heading back to the medical room to make sure there wasn't any further damage. World Athletics said the volunteer was “fine.”
Lyles won the race in 19.76 seconds to make Friday night's final, where he'll try to defend his 200-meter title and add it to the 100 he won earlier this week. Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic finished second.
“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.”
The Lyles race was supposed to be the first of the night's three semifinals, but ended up running last, about a half hour after it had been scheduled.
“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.”
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