Athletics: Spain's Ortega gets bronze after IAAF agree he was impeded

Athletics - World Athletics Championships - Doha 2019 - Men's 110 Metres Hurdles Final - Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar - October 2, 2019 Spain's Orlando Ortega reacts after the final REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

DOHA (Reuters) - Spain's Orlando Ortega has been awarded a bronze medal in the 110 metres hurdles after organisers agreed he was obstructed when Jamaican Omar McLeod fell in the next lane on Wednesday.

Ortega, on course for a third-place finish at the time, came fifth and Frenchman Pascal Martinot-Lagarge took bronze which the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said he would keep. American Grant Holloway won the race.

"The Jury of Appeal reconsidered the case and in view of the obstruction by athlete Omar McLeod, which impeded the Spanish Athlete, the jury accepted the appeal and directed that Spanish athlete Orlando Ortega also be awarded a bronze medal," the IAAF said in a statement.

Athletics - World Athletics Championships - Men's 110 Metres Hurdles Final - Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar - October 2, 2019 Spain's Orlando Ortega and Jamaica's Omar Mcleod in action REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel

Defending champion McLeod said after the race that he was responsible for obstructing Ortega and apologised.

Spain asked for the race to be re-run or for Ortega to be allowed to compete alone or "be awarded the medal corresponding to his position at the time of the obstruction."

Athletics - World Athletics Championships - Men's 110 Metres Hurdles Final - Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar - October 2, 2019 Grant Holloway of the U.S. and Spain's Orlando Ortega in action as Jamaica's Omar Mcleod falls during the race REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

(Reporting by Brian Homewood; Editing by Ken Ferris)