Wilfried Happio found himself being attacked unprovoked right before a big race. The 23-year-old was left a bloodied and battered mess after he was violently assaulted during his warm-up just 20 minutes before he was to race in the 400m hurdles.
An unknown individual managed to evade security where he proceeded to land several blows to the face of Happio. That person was eventually stopped and arrested.
According to RMC Sport, Happio was coughing up blood just moments before the start of the race. Despite the violent attack, Happio declared himself fit enough to compete.
Wearing an eye patch along with a bandage draped around his face, the Parisian won with a time of 48.57 seconds.
It was a new personal best for Happio.
Speaking after the race and before he went to the hospital for further examinations, Happio said: “I don’t want to dwell on it.
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“We’ll leave that to the competent people. To talk about the race, we worked a lot, we redid the music and that’s it.
“The feelings were good. I’m glad I did this time. Physically it’s fine.”
