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Lyles into final of world 200m despite golf buggy collision / Photo: © AFP
Lyles into final of world 200m despite golf buggy collision
Newly-crowned world 100m champion Noah Lyles kept his quest for a first sprint double since 2015 on track Thursday despite being involved in a golf buggy crash en route to the track.
Lyles and the seven other sprinters in his 200m semi-final were travelling by buggy from the adjoining training ground to the track of the National Athletics Centre when a second buggy crashed into theirs.
A volunteer was thrown to the ground and Lyles was caught on microphone saying Jamaica's Andrew Hudson thought he may have some glass in his eye from the collision.
The incident saw the running order of the three semi-finals rejigged, with Lyles' opening semi pushed to third on the night.
"The 200m heats reorder was due to the collision of two golf carts," World Athletics said in a statement.
"One athlete and a volunteer were assessed, and the athlete cleared to participate. He will compete in the last heat."
When Lyles eventually got to the starting blocks, he made no mistake in qualifying for Friday's final in an impressive 19.76sec, with Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic in second.
Lyles, in his quest to become the first male athlete to win a world sprint double since Usain Bolt in 2015, is the two-time defending world champion over 200m and has said he wants to target Usain Bolt's world record of 19.19sec set back in 2009 at the Berlin world championships.
"I'm pretty sure I'll get close to it," Lyles told NBC of Bolt's record.
"I'm very confident in what we did. Today I ran 19.7 and wasn't even really trying. I'm very confident in my ability.
"My body's been repairing itself day by day, and I actually feel better than I did going into the 100."
The American will be accompanied into the semis by the two other medallists in the 100m, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana and Britain's Zharnel Hughes.
Lyles is part of a strong US quartet that includes world and Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, and 19-year-old Erriyon Knighton, who won world bronze in Eugene last year behind Lyles and Bednarek.
Bednarek and Knighton won the two other semi-finals in 19.96 and 19.98sec ahead of Tebogo and Hughes respectively.
The two fastest runners-up progressing into the final are Canada's Olympic champion Andre de Grasse and Liberia's Joseph Fahnbulleh.
O. Larsen--BTZ
