Amalie Sæten fell in chaotic race start – “I was terrified”

– I was just sitting there, incredibly scared.

Norwegian runner Amalie Sæten was in Castellón, Spain, on Sunday aiming to set a personal best in a 10-kilometer road race.

But the experience quickly turned into something far different than she expected.

A Chaotic Start

Sæten immediately noticed how crowded it was at the starting line.

According to the 28-year-vintage, race organizers allowed the next-fastest runners to move forward ahead of the elite field, before all the top competitors were in position. Some runners were presented in front of the starting line, creating significant pressure both ahead and behind her.

– I could barely move my arms. I was standing with my legs tightly together.

Then the starting gun fired.

– Before I knew it, there was complete chaos. I was on the ground, with many people falling over me, Sæten said.

The Kristiansand native has several gaps in her memory of the incident.

Several people tried to help her up, but it was a teammate from Sportsklubben Vidar who finally came to her aid.

– But I don’t remember speaking to her at all. So I think I was completely shaken by the situation, Sæten said.

– I think I was in shock.

Read the response from the organizers at the bottom of the article.

A Disrupted Race

The chaos began even at the starting line, Sæten noted the extremely tight conditions.

Her clubmate, Ine Bakken, described a similar situation, with several runners pushing from behind.

– I don’t remember much myself before I got up. It was chaos! I had fallen myself and was lying underneath, and when I got up, I helped Amalie up as I was getting up from my own fall. We walked a few meters together before she started running. Amalie wasn’t fully present and wasn’t responding to questions, and seemed a bit distant,” Bakken said.

The two later met near the finish line.

– By then, she didn’t remember any of this, Bakken said, calling it a scary experience.

Confused by Fireworks

The dramatic start was filmed by Alondra Negrón Texidor from Puerto Rico.

Onlookers witnessed what Texidor described as frightening scenes. Her video on Instagram has been viewed 272,000 times as of Tuesday, February 24.

– Seeing the runners fall first, then trying to secure back up was shocking. It shows how quickly a chaotic start can become dangerous, Texidor wrote to NRK.

She also pointed out another factor contributing to the chaos.

As the starting gun went off, fireworks were also set off. Several runners interpreted this as a restart signal, which in athletics means the race was being re-started.

Sæten’s partner and coach, Ådne Andersen, was also involved in the chaotic start. He didn’t fall himself, but when he heard the fireworks, he turned around to restart.

– But then I see the field getting up. I don’t see Amalie, but I see runners running into runners, and it’s complete chaos, Andersen said, who heard Sæten scream as she fell just seconds earlier.

Neither the couple nor Texidor have heard of anyone being seriously injured in the incident.

However, the start impacted the atmosphere at the finish line.

– Several of those around me were my own clubmates. So I felt that our group was hit hard, Sæten said, who was there with about ten teammates from Vidar.

Suffered Minor Injuries

She sustained scrapes on her knees, hips, and elbows.

– It could have been so much worse, she summarized.

Sæten had aimed to run under 32 minutes, but finished a minute and a half behind that goal.

– I kind of gave up because I felt so strange in my body afterwards. And it was demanding to readjust after that happened.

– It’s incredibly frustrating when you’ve spent a week preparing for a race, and you felt really ready. You never know if you’ll get these conditions, and the course was incredibly rapid.

NRK’s athletics expert Vebjørn Rodal understands it’s frustrating when so much preparation goes into a race.

– Falls at the start of these mass events happen relatively often, but mass falls like this are rare, thankfully, Rodal said.

He emphasized the importance of the organizers having control over the different groups at the start.

The organizers told NRK that the next-fastest runners did not respect the group allocation that had been made, and crossed the marking tape without the organizers noticing.

They believe the mass fall occurred after one runner’s fall created a domino effect.

The organizers stated they will prevent such a fall in the future by starting the elite runners as a separate group at an earlier time.

According to the organizers, they have used fireworks for 16 years without causing unwanted incidents. In the future, they will postpone or drop the fireworks to avoid confusion.