In the middle of the race
Athlete beats down competitor
10.03.2025 – 5:15 p.m.Reading time: 1 min.
Sport is very important in the United States. The pressure is also immense in high school sports, which even drives teenagers to serious mistakes.
The high school championships of athletics in Lynchburg in the US state of Virginia overshadowed an incident. In the middle of the 4×200 meter relay race, the runner Kaelen Tucker was attacked and seriously injured by a competitor with a baton.
Tucker, student of the Brookville Highschool, had started as the second runner for her team. She had previously won silver in the single sprint and was in a strong form.
During the race, Tucker took over the baton in third position and started to catch up. Shortly before the end of the curve, she started overtaking and passed the season of the IC Norcom Highschool.
In a video you can see how the competitor pulls her arm back with the baton and then swings forward vigorously. The rod hits Tucker on the back of the head. The 16-year-old stumbles off the train, touches his head and goes to the ground.
“I felt that my head hurt, so I stopped running,” Tucker later told the “New York Post”.
A doctor found a coat of brain and possibly a broken skull. The season of the IC Norcom Highschool was disqualified after the incident.
So far, neither the coach of the opposing team nor the runner involved had apologized, it said. The athletics association has started investigations into the incident.