Athlete gets the shock of her life while anxiously waiting to see if she’s qualified

An athlete at the World Championships got the shock of her life while waiting to see if she’d qualified, with the moment being captured on film by BBC cameras.

Sprinter Anthonique Strachan, 30, took part in the 200m semi-final sprint at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, yesterday (24 August), completing the distance in a time of 22.30 seconds.

The Bahamian became a provisional qualifier after third in her heat, behind Julien Alfred, from Saint Lucia, and English star Daryll Neita.

Eventually, her efforts saw her land the last spot in the 200m final today, where she’ll go up against favourites, American Sha'Carri Richardson and Jamaica's Shericka Jackson.

However, the news didn’t come instantly, and a still-breathless Stachan had to take a seat on a sofa as she awaited her fate.

And as if she wasn’t feeling nervous enough, she suddenly had the shock of her life as she tried to relax after her race.

As Strachan leant back and lifted her leg up to rest her foot on the sofa, two horns appeared behind her.

Those belonged to Youhuu, the World Athletics Championship mascot, who cheekily crept up behind her from behind the sofa to scare her.

Strachan leapt out of her seat and ran over towards the camera, before glancing back to see Youhuu waving at her.

This is NOT what you need when you're waiting to see if you've qualified 😂#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/JCAWq5fiTx

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 24, 2023

Thankfully, she saw the funny side and started laughing, before returning to the sofa to give the mischief-maker a big hug.

“You don’t need that!” the BBC commentator said.

Last summer, Strachan suffered a devastating quad injury at the 2022 World Championships, which were held in the US in Eugene, Oregon.

The athlete had a grade one strain to her left quad midway through her 200m sprint, and was forced to limp along the rest of the track in lane eight – having previously been in second place.

“I felt like I got hit in my quad and that was it,” Strachan recalled afterwards in an interview with The Tribune.

“At that time I wasn’t worrying about the pain, it was more like not again. I’ve never had a quad problem before, but I felt I did everything needed to get myself ready for the championships and I still had a problem.”

She added: “I’m emotionally disappointed, but I was able to run a PR [personal record] in the 100m, which was my weakest event on paper.

“That would have set me up for what I expect for the 200m. Right now, I’m just using the ice packs and keeping my leg elevated. I will start some physical therapy on it today.”

And it wasn't long ago that was still undergoing rehabilitation from a quad injury, telling Sportsmax.TV in June, that the process was ongoing after the unwelcome ‘surprise’.

She said: "I would love to think that [the injury] is behind me, but I'm still rehabbing/pre-habbing the areas that were once a problem, especially my quad since it was a surprise to me.

"I wasn't frustrated when it happened because I was shocked that it happened since I felt nothing leading up to it happening. It upset me that my body waited there and then to break.”