Former Olympian Dawn Harper-Nelson explains what led to Lamecha Girma’s scary injury in men’s steeplechase final

During Wednesday’s 3000M men’s steeplechase final, world record holder Lamecha Girma fell hard on the final lap. Going over the barrier on the backstretch of the track, Girma clipped the hurdle, his body turned, and he hit the back of his head on the track surface.

Lamecha Girma had to be placed on a stretcher with a neckbrace on before being removed from the track. It was a startling moment, especially given the celebrations going on at the finish line soon after the fall.

The good news, Girma was taken care of by medical personnel and received the help he needed. Former Olympians Shannon Rowbury and Dawn Harper-Nelson broke down the incident for NBC.

“When you’re approaching a hurdle barrier at the speed they were — it would be different if it was maybe in the first 100 when they’re just building up their speed — if you clip a hurdle it’s still a bad fall but not like what he experienced,” Harper-Nelson, a former hurdler, explained.

“Once [Kenneth] Rooks took off, when the whole field went, they were in a full-on sprint. That changes everything and how you hit a 200-pound barrier. So what happens is his left leg, the one that goes first, is his lead leg. So he’s running, running, running. He chops a little to take it, meaning your balance is off just a tad, not sticking the landing to go. Lead leg comes up, left is his lead. That clears a little bit, but his trail leg is too low and hits. It’s literally like hitting a wall. A wall is not going to move. You will move, crumble in any way possible.

“So it hits. And what happens is once this hits the momentum stops and he turns, his body continues to turn and he falls on his back, where his head hits, completely hits the ground. Full back, full back of the head. And once you saw him hit you saw him kind of roll and his body went limp. That was the scariest part. And the reason, again that I need to be very clear, it was so bad is because they were in a full-on sprint and you’re fatigued, because you’re now approaching home, so the body doesn’t have all the energy to try and save yourself.”

Lamecha Girma took a hard fall. When it comes to events like steeplechase, there is a real threat of injury. When you are running at high speeds, any kind of fall can end badly, let alone over a 200lb barrier.

Kenneth Rooks put on a historic performance. The steeplechase has long eluded Americans. Rooks has now matched Evan Jager’s 2016 silver medal. Jager is the greatest American steeple-chaser of all time, holding the North American record in the event at 8:00.45.