Doctors rush to help Olympic athlete Lamecha Girma after terrifying fall during men’s steeplechase in Paris

Lamecha Girma, an Ethiopian runner, hit his head in a dramatic fall on the final lap of the men’s 3000 meters steeplechase at the Paris Olympics.

Girma, the current world record holder in this event and silver medalist at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, stood on the home straight along with the rest of the field to take on a hurdle.

But while jumping he scraped his knee on the hurdle and fell headfirst onto the track, where he lay motionless.

The race continued and eventually doctors arrived on the track to treat the fallen athlete.

Girma was fitted with a neck brace before being carried away on a stretcher by emergency workers after the fall.

Lamecha Girma, the world record holder in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, fell

Girma hit his head on the track after hitting a hurdle on the final lap of the race

He was placed in a neck brace by medical staff and carried off the track on a stretcher

It is unclear how he is doing at the moment.

The race ended even more surprisingly when American long-distance runner Kenneth Rooks won silver.

Rooks finished behind Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali and 0.06 seconds ahead of Kenyan Abraham Kibiwot.

El Bakkali made history by becoming the second man to successfully defend his Olympic steeplechase title since Finland’s Volmari Iso-Hollo did so at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

Girma won the silver medal in the same event at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, the 2022 World Championships in Eugene and the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.

In June 2023, Girma broke the world record by running the 3000 meters in a time of 7:52:11. That was more than a second and a half faster than the old record that had stood for 19 years.