'Awful to see': World champion in horror mishap at Tokyo Olympics
Thomas Van der Plaetsen had to be taken from the arena in a wheelchair after a scary mishap in the decathlon at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday.
The Belgian world champion was competing in the long jump event in Tokyo when things went horribly wrong.
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Coming in for his jump, Van der Plaetsen appeared to suffer a leg injury in his final stride.
He grimaced in pain and pulled out of the jump in mid-air, landing face-first in the sand.
That's awful to see 😞
Looks like Belgium's Thomas Van der Plaetsen has done some serious damage in the long jump. Fingers crossed he's okay.#Tokyo2020 | #7Olympics | #Athletics pic.twitter.com/bweOikWgDn— 7Olympics (@7olympics) August 4, 2021
The Belgian remained face-down for a number of seconds, sparking concerns from officials and medical staff.
He managed to move himself soon after, but had to be taken away in a wheelchair.
Fans and commentators were stunned by the confronting scenes.
"It didn’t look good. He aborted the first take-off, walked rather gingerly back feeling the back of his hamstring and then went again," Eurosport commentator Martin Gillingham said.
Van der Plaetsen had been in fourth place after the opening event, the 100m.
After the long jump, the decathletes compete in shot put, high jump and the 400m.
They will then complete the 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500m on Thursday.
OMG— hoping #BEL decathlete Thomas Van Der Plaetsen is ok. That was scary how he just fell face first on the sand. 😳 #Olympics #LongJump #Athletics
— Running_Crazy Plant Lady (@CrzyPlntLady) August 4, 2021
Looks like something popped, Achilles or hammy
— Cummo (@dc_manintheknow) August 4, 2021
OMG, Thomas van der Plaetsen. 😱
Get well soon!!! 🙏🙏🙏#Decathlon #Tokyo2020 #Olympics— TOM (@TomR_) August 4, 2021
Uff— I was scared when he just laid there. So scary.
— Running_Crazy Plant Lady (@CrzyPlntLady) August 4, 2021
I thought I heard a weird sound on the original showing. Hopefully it’s not serious.
— eric zimmerman (@ezimmerman1) August 4, 2021
TThat looked bad ... hopefully he didn't hurt himself any worse for Thomas van der Plaetsen. #Athletics Je lui souhaite un prompt rétablissement. #Olympics #ThomasVanDerPlaetsen
— Absurde_Existenz (@Wiesel_Flink) August 4, 2021
Feel for Belgium's Thomas van der Plaetsen as he suffers an injury on the run up in the decathlon long jump#athletics #tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/4ut934mzlr
— Matt W-S 🔑🟤 (@Yakcall) August 4, 2021
Aussie Ash Moloney flies through 100m in decathlon
Earlier, Australian Ash Moloney made a flying start to the decathlon.
The 21-year-old set a personal best of 10.34 seconds in the opening 100m and backed it up with a solid 7.64m in the long jump.
The 2018 world junior champion was in second spot overall on 1983 points after two of the 10 events, behind runaway leader Damian Warner from Canada (2189).
Warner equalled his own decathlon 100m record of 10.12 to throw down the gauntlet to his opponents.
The Canadian also dominated the long jump with 8.24m.
Australian Cedric Dubler was in 12th spot, having battled a hamstring injury in the lead-up to the Games.
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