Javelin star Julius Yego 'lucky to be alive' after crash

World Javelin Champion Julius Yego with his wife after being discharged from Mediheal Hospital in Eldoret. PHOTO | WYCLIFE KIPSANG | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Yego, who addressed the press at Mediheal hospital in Eldoret after being discharged, thanked Kenyans and his fans for their messages of goodwill.
  • The high-impact collision with transit goods track saw Yego’s Toyota Prado week-old sports utility vehicle completely written off.
  • Yego, was alone in the vehicle and the extensively damaged SUV was towed to the Eldoret Central Police Station with police on night duty preventing journalists from taking photos of the mangled wreckage.

World Javelin champion Julius Yego has said that he is lucky to be alive after a freak accident on Sunday night along the Eldoret-Nakuru highway.

Yego, who addressed the press at Mediheal hospital in Eldoret after being discharged, thanked Kenyans and his fans for their messages of goodwill.

“I thank God to be alive. Following the impact, I thought that I had broken my leg but I later discovered that I was okay,” said Yego in the company of his wife Sincy and son Jarvis.

The world champion had to cut short the interview after he was overcome by emotions.

The high-impact collision with transit goods track saw Yego’s Toyota Prado week-old sports utility vehicle completely written off.

A neurosurgeon at Mediheal hospital, Florencious Koech said that the athlete’s life was out of danger.

“He sustained soft tissue injuries following the mishap but he is now stable. This will not affect his athletics career,” said the medic.

Earlier, Yego had kept anxious journalists waiting for more than four hours before finally granting them the interview.

Yego, was alone in the vehicle and the extensively damaged SUV was towed to the Eldoret Central Police Station with police on night duty preventing journalists from taking photos of the mangled wreckage.

Yego, 27, who won the world javelin title in Beijing last year, suffered an injury during the final of his specialty event at August's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

But despite the injury, he still bagged a silver medal, Kenya's first Olympic field events medal.

In Beijing last year, the two-time African champion broke the Africa and Commonwealth record with a massive throw of 92.72 metres, which was the best throw in the world since 2006.

On Saturday, Yego, who also won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, had told the Nation that he was just beginning his buildup to the new 2017 season in which he hopes to defend his world title at the IAAF World Championships that will be held at the iconic Olympic Stadium in Stratford, London.

It is in the same stadium that Yego became the first Kenyan to reach an Olympic field events final at the 2012 London Games.

Yego rapidly developed in the sport under legendary Finnish coach Petteri Piironen who worked on his technique at the Kuortane Olympic Training Centre in Finland where he was on a scholarship programme.

The Kenya Police officer has concentrated his training between his Kapsabet home and Eldoret where he lives with his wife Sincy and son Jarvis.