A shoulder to lean on: Steeplechaser stops, lends a helping hand to a struggling competitor

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TOKYO (AP) — Steeplechaser Tim Van de Velde looked behind him and saw a fellow competitor gingerly crawling over the last barrier on a 3,000-meter journey that went terribly wrong for both.

The Belgian's hopes for a top finish already long crushed, he turned around, put an arm around stumbling Carlos San Martin and helped him limp in to the finish.

That show of sportsmanship Saturday between the 10th- and 11th-place finishers in an otherwise routine qualifying race might very well have been the highlight of a busy opening night at track and field world championships, even on a day when five gold medals were handed out.

“I saw him stumbling and thought, ‘Why not?'” Van de Velde said. “We both had bad luck, I guess. Maybe we can share some bad luck together."

Van de Velde was racing in front as the runners approached the water pit to start the third of a 7 1/2-lap race. Steeplechase is a bruising challenge that asks them to vault five 3-foot-high barriers placed around the track, one of which fronts a 2-foot-deep water obstacle.

The Belgian clipped the barrier and fell in. By the time he got up, his hopes of winning, or placing in the top five to move onto the next round, were gone. He raced the rest of the way just to say he finished.

Van de Velde is no stranger to these sort of slipups. The 25-year-old, a gold medalist at the 2016 European Youth Championships, broke his collarbone after a fall at European Championships last year. At worlds in Eugene, Oregon, in 2022, he fell into the water and injured his ankle.

“I know what it's like to feel helpless on the track,” he said.

As does San Martin. The Colombian was helped off the track in a wheelchair and didn't come through the interview area.

Van de Velde said it will take time to get over this latest disappointment. Chances are he'll be remembered for something other than where he finished.

“We’re both competitors. We both work very hard,” Van de Velde said. "Of course, the main goal was the final and we both had bad luck, so that’s why I did it.”

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