BUDAPEST 2023 WORLDS: FIVE

WA site crashes

The 19th World Athletics (WA) Championships wrapped up yesterday in the Hungarian capital but they’ve had an overwhelming following, at least going by the numbers online.

Since Tuesday, social media has been awash with posts from the different events. Ever since Sha’Carri Richardson won the women’s 100m title six days ago, the WA website has been overwhelmed with traffic.

In the evening hours of competitions, the website has been crashing, freezing and sometimes just not running through different internet engines.

“Due to the high volume of visitors during the #WorldAthleticsChamps, the live results page will be the only accessible part of our website during peak times.

This will help the flow of traffic, ensuring fans will be able to follow all the action,“ read a tweet by World Athletics. The power of sport!

Busy Ayikoru

Uganda Athletics Federation’s general secretary Beatrice Ayikoru was among the first officials to arrive in Budapest and will definitely be among the last to leave.

The former 5000m runner has been all over the place at the National Athletics Centre with a variety of duties as a World Athletics Council Member.

She was re-elected to the role for a new four-year term during the Council meeting here and she has kept in suits all week, attending meetings across doping, officiating among others.

On Friday, Ayikoru was among the officials who  led the day’s jury during the competitions.

A week ago, she was at the podium at the fan park where she handed Joshua Cheptegei his 10000m gold medal before the national anthem played for only the sixth time in the World Championships‘ history.

Golf cart collision

Ugandan sprinter Tarsis Orogot and  world 100m champion American Noah Lyles survived injury after their golf cart transporting them to the call room collided with another in the warm-up area.

A volunteer, the driver of one cart, fell off while Jamaican Andrew Hudson felt a glass enter his eye before the action in Thursday night’s men’s 200m semi-final Heat 1.

Orogot however was unhurt because he was seated behind on the adjacent side of the collision.

Their Heat was delayed by 20 minutes and came last after both the volunteer and Hudson were cleared.

Hudson and Team Jamaica later protested over the matter and despite finishing fifth, outside the qualifying positions, he was reinstated for a lane in last night’s final.

The Local Organising Committee said it was “investigating the incident and reviewing the transport procedures“ in an email.