Athletics-Austrian hospitalised after horror fall

OSAKA, Japan, Aug 26 (Reuters) Austrian steeplechaser Guenther Weidlinger was rushed to hospital with facial injuries after a nasty fall at the world championships today.

Weidlinger stumbled and smashed into a hurdle face-first, splitting his lip and cutting his jaw during the heats for the 3,000 metres steeplechase.

He was left bloodied and dazed trackside before being taken to hospital for a precautionary brain scan which showed no damage.

''At first he was kind of semi-conscious but he wasn't completely unconscious,'' the IAAF's medical and anti-doping committee chief Juan Manuel Alonso told Reuters.

''We were worried at first. Thankfully, the latest news we have is much less worrying. It is confidential and very sensitive but he is being submitted for more tests.'' Weidlinger quickly recovered full consciousness but will be kept under observation for at least one night.

''The athlete sustained injuries to the lower lip and jaw which have been stitched,'' Austrian team doctor Andreas Kroener said in a statement.

''In the last 30 minutes he has been mostly well. He is now fully conscious and can think and speak clearly.'' Doctors ran precautionary tests on Weidlinger's skull and neck but gave the 29-year-old the all-clear.

''There is no damage to the teeth or the head,'' Kroener said. ''A computer tomography was made of the skull and cervical vertebrae and no injury was detected.'' REUTERS BJR HS1354