Competing in seven occasions over two days is hard sufficient, however Brazilian athlete José Fernando Ferreira needed to take care of a freak incident in the course of the last occasion of the boys’s heptathlon on the 2026 World Indoor Championships in Poland.
Ferreira went into the boys’s 1,000m (the seventh and last occasion) in the back of the pack, seeking to make up a number of spots. However as an alternative of transferring up, he was mowed down by an surprising flying pole.
Within the 1000m, the ultimate occasion of the heptathlon on the World Indoor Championships, Brazilian mixed occasions athlete Jose Fernando Ferreira 🇧🇷 was taken out by a pole from the continued pole vault competitors.
He nonetheless acquired up and accomplished the 1000m, ending twelfth general. pic.twitter.com/iLkEOOJOL7
— World Athletics Hub (@glblathletichub) March 23, 2026
Whereas the heptathlon was wrapping up on the observe, the boys’s pole vault was occurring on the identical time within the infield. Czech vaulter David Holy was trying 5.70 metres when he misplaced management on his run-up and crashed into the bar. The pole went flying and struck Ferreira in his left torso.
Ferreira collapsed, and was down for a number of seconds earlier than getting up and ending the ultimate lap, formally finishing the heptathlon. Fortunately, the incident didn’t price him a lot various factors. He completed twelfth out of 12, the identical place he held going into the ultimate occasion.
Brazilian Mixed Occasions athlete Jose Fernando Ferreira 🇧🇷 will get clattered by a stray pole within the 1000m, the ultimate occasion of the heptathlon on the world indoor championships.pic.twitter.com/kJiPxKBhQ8
— World Athletics Hub (@glblathletichub) March 23, 2026
Regardless that it clearly caught him off guard, Ferreira wasn’t damage. Plus, he didn’t appear too bothered afterward, saying he was simply grateful for the possibility to compete in opposition to the world’s finest and thanking the Brazilian Athletics Federation.
