Jamaican sprinter hurt in golf-cart crash waved through to 200m final

Jamaican sprinter Andrew Hudson, who got glass in his eye in a crash between two carts that were shuttling athletes to the stadium at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Thursday, has been cleared to compete in Friday’s 200m men’s final despite finishing fifth in the heat that followed the accident.

A cart that was transporting Hudson and other athletes—including U.S. sprinter and world 100-metre champion Noah Lyles as well as Canadian Brendon Rodney—from a warm up-track to the stadium before Thursday’s heats collided with another buggy, breaking a window on Hudson’s cart and sending at least one fragment of glass into his right eye.

“He thinks he got glass in his eye.”

Noah Lyles here calling for help for Jamaican runner Andrew Hudson.#WorldAthleticsChamps | #Budapest2023 pic.twitter.com/MCSclicHNM

— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) August 24, 2023

Video posted by Virgin Media Sport on X, the social media outlet formerly known as Twitter, shows Hudson rubbing his eye immediately after the collision as well as one other passenger being knocked out of the cart.

“I feel like it all happened in slow motion,” Hudson told Reuters following the crash. “Unfortunately, I was sitting on the side where another buggy crashed into us. I was directly impacted. They got most of the glass out. My eye is pretty blurry right now.”

South African sprinter Luxolo Adams, who was also in the cart, said he “felt a bit dizzy from the impact” of the crash.

‘I was a bit dizzy from the impact’#southafrica sprinter #LuxoloAdams was in the cart that collided with another on their way to the track for the 1st Men’s 200m semi-final heat. #jamaican Andrew Hudson who had a glass near his eyes was assessed and cleared to run. pic.twitter.com/Bgsro1MXS1

— Voxafrica TV (@voxafricauk) August 25, 2023

Lyles told NBC that as the carts got closer, “there was a miscommunication of who was going to stop. They both decided that neither of them were going to stop, so they just ended up T-boning right into each other.”

Lyles said he had no health issues following the crash. “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.”

The crash prompted officials to delay the 200m men’s semifinal, in which Lyles and Hudson were competing, by about half an hour.

In a statement issued after the crash, World Athletics said the semifinal delay “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.”

Hudson ran 20.38 to finish fifth in the heat. Although that result normally wouldn’t have qualified him to compete in the final, officials decided to advance him after taking his injury from Thursday’s crash into consideration. Friday’s final will therefore see nine competitors toe the start line instead of the usual eight.

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Lyles, who ran 19.75 to finish first in the heat, is widely seen as the favourite to take gold in Friday’s final.

The 200m final is scheduled to take place Friday at 3:50 p.m. ET.

The 2023 World Athletics Championships are taking place from August 19-27 at the National Stadium in Budapest, Hungary. All the action will be brought to you by Canadian Running and Asics Canada. Follow us on Twitter on Instagram for all things Team Canada and up-to-date exclusive news and content.