A cameraman, the unexpected appearance on the track of the 3000 meters hurdles final of the Athletics World Championships

In the 3,000 meters of hurdles, competitors will have to overcome, as the name of the discipline indicates, several “obstacles” Along the road. The regulation provides that from the starting point to the finish line they will find 28 fences and seven pools of water. But the athletes who competed in the men’s final of that event in Eugenio World Championships in Athletics They found an extra and unexpected obstacle: a cameraman who had sneaked onto the catwalk.

It was in the first few meters of the competition. The “intruder”, camera in hand and standing on the tartan, between the first and second streets, was filming the final of the women’s triple jump which was played simultaneously and in which the Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas won his third consecutive title. He was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t realize he left the 3000 final with obstacles.

Turning his back to the athletes, the man did not notice that they were getting closer and closer and remained motionless in his position. The riders reacted promptly to seeing him, the group opened up to avoid him and the situation – which could have ended with an injured athlete or cameraman – in the end was just a curious anecdote, which immediately went viral on social media.

“I was a little worried that he would dive one way or another, right at the last second. But luckily he didn’t realize we were there until we all passed him,” the American told him. Evan Jagershortly after, a New York Times.

Having overcome this unprecedented “obstacle”, the test continued without further surprises, until the last stretch of the route. Is that in the absence of 500 meters from the end, the Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkaliwho until then was not in the running for first place, stormed out after passing the last hole of water and, with a fantastic sprint on the last lap, took the victory.

Bakkali, 26 years old and current Olympic champion, has thus become the first athlete not born in Kenya to conquer the 3,000 obstacles in a World Championship since the time of the Italian Francesco Panetta in 1987. That’s it Saif Saaeed Shaheenthe only one to have won the test with a flag other than that of Kenya in the last 35 years (in Saint Denis 2003 and Helsinki 2005), represents Qatar, but was born in that African country.

The Bakkali, which already had the bronze of Doha 2019 and the silver of London 2017hung his first World Cup gold with a score of 8m25s13.

“The course was very tactical, slow. There were very good runners, like defending champion Kipruto,” said the Fez native. “I positioned myself well on the last lap. I am very strong in the 400 meters and it worked well for me,” he celebrated.

The second was the Ethiopian Lamecha Girma, silver also in Tokyo 2020 and Doha 2019, with a time of 8m26s01. And third, the Kenyan Conselus Kiprutgold in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and double world champion in London 2017 and Doha 2019, with 8m27s92.