- Footage has emerged of a child jumping onto the track during a running race
- One of the sprinters could not avoid the child and crashed into him
- The sprinter continued his race, while a woman ran over to check on the child
Shocking footage has emerged of a young child being knocked over by a sprinter after entering the track during a race.
The seven-second clip begins with three men running at full pace towards the camera from a distance, while a child is stood on an elevated block at trackside.
The child is clearly not paying attention to the ongoing race and jumps down into the nearest lane before starting to walk towards the centre of the track.
Shrieks can be heard from panicked adults as they see what is about to happen, but the unaware child is unable to get out of the way in time and is sent flying by the runner who could not halt his momentum.
The sprinter who collided with the child was leading the race and decides to continue running rather than checking on the young boy.
Instead, a horrified woman quickly runs on to the track once the three men have raced past to see if the boy is OK as the video clip ends.
A young child jumped onto the track and wandered into the middle lanes during a race
The unaware child was sent flying by a sprinter who could not halt his momentum
Shocked Reddit users expressed little sympathy for the child on the brunt end of the collision.
‘If you’re going to be dumb, you’ve got to be tough,’ one commenter said.
Another added: ‘I hope the child is able to remember this life lesson.’
A third user echoed those comments: ‘Kid learned a valuable lesson that day.’
‘This probably saved his life,’ another said. ‘Maybe he’ll look both ways before crossing the road next time.’
Others gave the athlete credit for not letting his race be affected by the incident.
One said: ‘The fact he didn’t lose his position is impressive.’
‘He tried to get out of the way,’ another user pointed out. ‘People think it’s just a race but to him it could be his chance at going to college or securing his future.’
The shocking collision between the sprinter and a child comes just days after Pierre Gasly accidentally crashed into a rabbit during practice at the Imola Grand Prix
The high-impact collision comes just days after another unfortunate accident during F1 practice at the Imola Grand Prix when a car hit a rabbit that scuttled onto the track.
Pierre Gasly was left in distress after crashing into the rabbit as he told his team via radio: ‘Oh my God, I… I touched an animal.’
He was then told to return to the pit lane by his race engineer, who wanted him to box immediately after the crash.
Speaking about the incident after the practice session concluded, Gasly told Sky Sports: ‘I couldn’t tell if it was a small cat or a big rabbit.
‘It turned out that it was a big rabbit just jumping across the track. I could not avoid it, so I had quite a big impact on the front wing.
‘Unfortunately, that was it for the rabbit and [it] also broke the front wing. It was not ideal, but not the end of the session we wanted.’
