World Athletics Championship buggies crash as passenger flung to tarmac

Two buggies carrying athletes to the men’s 200m semi-finals of the World Athletics Championships crashed outside the National Athletics Centre in Budapest moments before the sprinters were set to take to the track. The golf carts, loaded up with six or seven athletes including reigning 200m champion Noah Lyles, collided with each other at a crossroad with one passenger being flung onto the tarmac.

Two pedestrians had a close shave when they were nearly caught up in the impact but according to reports, everyone came out unscathed despite Jamaican Andrew Hudson being seen holding his eye while grimacing in pain. Reacting to the bizarre scenes, BBC presenter Gabby Logan said: “You can see there was an accident, two buggies collided, two pedestrians almost in the mix there, one guy you can see there stumbling away.

“Noah Lyles at the front of the buggy there… There was a lot of confusion because we’ve only just seen those shots so we haven’t had confirmation that everyone is okay but it has been confirmed that everything is going to go off on time which would indicate that they are all okay. I’m not quite sure how that even happens?”

Michael Johnson replied: “You had one job. Stay out of the way of the other buggies. Come on!”

Denise Lewis then quipped: “Mirror, signal, manoeuvre, just the basics that’s all you can ask for. It’s terrible though.” Luckily all of the athletes lined up for their semi-final races as Lyles cruised around the bend to secure a 19.76-second victory ahead of Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic in second place.

In the other semi, Britain’s Zharnel Hughes qualified as a runner-up behind Erriyon Knighton of the United States, who jogged over the line to record a 19.98-second run. Speaking during his post-race interview with the BBC, Hughes said: “Controlled running – that was what the instruction was today. Don’t try to do anything crazy, just qualify.

“I knew Knighton was going to run up on me. I just needed to stay relaxed and run my own race, and that’s what I did.

“I am looking forward to being out there tomorrow. I’m going to bring my A-game and I don’t care who’s in the race with me – I’m going to run.” Hughes picked up a bronze in the 100m final on Sunday behind 20-year-old Botswanan star Letsile Tebogo and Lyles, who topped the podium.