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Kenya's javelin ace Yego survives horror road crash

Xinhua, October 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Kenyan javelin hero Julius Yego survived on Sunday night when the vehicle he was driving crashed with a trailer in the northwest town of Eldoret, some 300km from Nairobi.

According to the Beijing 2015 World Championships gold winner and Rio 2016 Olympics silver medallist, the truck veered suddenly into his path with his recently acquired SUV completely damaged from the accident.

"The trailer driver made a U-turn to my right and I slammed the brakes so hard, even standing that I thought I had broken my leg but after being checked in hospital, I was told I'm fine.

"If I was driving a smaller car, I would be past tense. I only acquired the vehicle last week," the shaken 2014 Commonwealth and two-time African champion famously known as the YouTube Man said on phone after the crash.

The shaken field star then took to his Facebook page to assure the world he was okay as Kenyans took to social media to wish him quick recovery from the harrowing ordeal.

"God is living and great! am ok my people! Can't believe am alive!@mungu yupo (God exists)!!am in stable condition!" Yego posted.

Among the first to rush to the scene was fellow Beijing 2015 gold winner and three-time world champion, Asbel Kiprop.

"If he had a passenger, they would be no more because he swerved to his right to avoid being directly hit. He was luckily driving alone but the vehicle is now a write off," Kiprop said.

The men's 1,500m star also survived a near-fatal accident in the same region when his SUV veered off the road and plunged into a ditch.

"What a stupid week two days after Andrew Rotich got involved in an accident Julius Yego tonight again got involved. God protect us. We thank God they are safe," the Beijing 2008 champion wrote on his Facebook wall.

Yego threw a monster 92.72m throw that delivered him the world title in Beijing last year that is ranked the fifth in the all-time list before winning silver in Rio behind German winner, Thomas Rohler. Endit