A University of Georgia sprinter is expected to make a full recovery after he was impaled on a javelin during a practice session on Tuesday.
Elija Godwin was participating in a drill in which he and his teammates were sprinting backwards when he ran into the javelin, which had been left pointing out of the ground at an angle. The accident left Godwin with wounds to his back and shoulder and collapsed his left lung. Emergency services attended to him and ground off part of the javelin before he was taken to hospital where the rest of it was removed by surgeons.
“He was transported to Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center. He underwent surgery and is in stable condition,” read a statement from the University of Georgia. “A full recovery is expected, according to UGA Director of Sports Medicine Ron Courson.”
Georgia’s athletic director, Greg McGarity, said no one was to blame for the incident. “It was truly an accident,” McGarity said. “Nobody threw anything or anything like that.”
Godwin will, unsurprisingly, miss the rest of the season.
