Andrew Hudson runs in the race with blurry vision after a cart crash sent glass shards in his eye

BUDAPEST, Hungary – A trolley collision carrying Noah Lyles and his opponents in the semi-finals of the 200m at the World Championships on Thursday sent glass shards into Jamaican runner Andrew Hudson’s right eye, forcing him to race with blurred vision.

Aerial video taken outside the stadium shows the cart traveling down the sidewalk to bring Lyles, Hudson, and the other athletes to a waiting room near the track. An oncoming vehicle collides with the athletes’ vehicle and one of the volunteers falls from that vehicle.

The video then cuts to the inside of the camper where Hudson presses his fingers over his right eye. He was allowed to compete, but after finishing fifth, he said he had blurry vision in his right eye.

“I can’t see with my right eye, but I’m fine,” Hudson said after the race. The doctor took out some shards of glass.

The IAAF released a statement saying that Hudson had been cleared to race and that the volunteer was “fine”. Later, Hudson was moved to the final on Friday due to the referee’s decision.

This is the first world championship for the 26-year-old from Jamaica, who had a personal best time of 19.87 and ranked 11th in the world this year.

“I did my best,” he said after finishing the race in 20.38 seconds. “I was sitting in the middle of the room for about 20 minutes, trying to decide whether or not to compete. I’ve worked so hard to be here. Even given the circumstances, everyone has obstacles in life. If I can, I’ll run. I’ll do my best, so I tried. .”

Lyles won the race in 19.76 seconds to reach Friday night’s final, where he will attempt to defend his 200m title and add to the 100m he won earlier this week. Alexandre Ogando of the Dominican Republic came in second.

The horror off the track has overshadowed most of the news inside.

This led to Wimke Poll winning the 400m hurdles, a happy comeback for her after a fall at the end of the 4×400 mixed relay on opening night costing the Netherlands a medal.

Poole had always been known as a hurdler, but despite her record-breaking running times and Olympics wins as a child, she was running in the era of Sidney McLaughlin, who left everyone in the dust as he set four world records times in the 26 months past.

This year McLaughlin swept away from the hurdles, leaving Poole as the best player in the world, and she did not disappoint. She finished the race in 51.70 seconds to beat second-place finisher Shamir Little by 1.1.

In the 100 hurdles, Jamaican Danielle Williams beat Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho Quinn by 0.01 to take the gold medal. American Kenny Harrison took the bronze, while defending champion and world record holder Toby Amusan finished sixth.

Canada’s Camryn Rogers won the hammer throw, ahead of Americans Janie Casanavoed and 2019 world champion Diana Price.

Antonio Watson won the 400-meter race in 44.22 seconds to take home two gold medals for Jamaica.

But the Jamaican on everyone’s minds was Hudson, who was at what should have been the most routine part of his day – riding in a golf cart to the track – when things fell apart.

Their race was supposed to be the first of three semi-finals, but was pushed back to the finale by nearly 30 minutes.

“It was a big scare,” said third-placed Tarsis Orugut. “We’re not paying attention. We were all locked up and then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, someone pushed us in there.”

“He knocks everyone out,” said fourth-place finisher Brendon Rodney. “You’re late, what are you going to do?”

All Hudson could do was line up and go. After that, he said he planned to return to the medical tent to further assess the damage. He’ll be in the gold medal race on Friday – if he’s able to go.

“I don’t know what happened,” Hudson said. “It’s quite a blur, quite literally.” “The race was blurry. My vision is blurry. I’m going to go make sure my vision is okay.”