BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A day after a scary close call, Jamaican sprinter Andrew Hudson's right eye remained irritated.
He said he was heading home from world championships to be examined by a specialist — just to see if his cornea was scratched by the shards of glass that hit him after a cart he was riding in got broadsided by another cart before the 200-meter semifinals.
“But I'm happy to have my eyesight,” Hudson said Friday night, about 24 hours after the accident, and following his eighth-place finish in the 200 final. “It's getting better.”
Less than an hour after the wreck, Hudson made it to the starting line of the semifinal even with his eye hurting. Though he finished fifth, referees advanced him to the final.
Soon after, he made a trip to the hospital, where he had his eye flushed out five times, he said. He didn't leave until around 2 a.m.
He wasn't missing the final, though. Stationed in Lane 1, Hudson finished in 20.40 seconds, .88 seconds behind the winner, Noah Lyles.
“It doesn’t really matter what lane they gave me," Hudson said. “They could have put me on the grass, I was going to run.”
The 26-year-old who grew up in Texas, went to Texas Tech and competes for Jamaica, said he's watched video of the crash. It all happened so fast.
“I saw it coming and I tried to jump over to the side a little bit,” Hudson explained. “It’s very unfortunate and very reckless, in my opinion. I don’t blame anybody.”
Hudson guesses the shards of glass came from the plexiglass window.
“The (glass shards) just flew across my face, and I had glass in my backpack,” he said. “I looked down at the seat and it had glass everywhere. I couldn’t do too much investigating, though."
With this ordeal behind him, he'll be heading home to see a specialist on Monday.
“It’s been a tough two days for me,” Hudson said. “It wasn’t how I thought my first experience (at worlds) was going to go. But I definitely have some stories to tell my grandkids."
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