A cameraman wandered onto the track and interrupted the steeplechase at World Championships

• An oblivious cameraman stood on the track in the middle of the men's 3000m steeplechase at World Championships.
• The camera operator was filming the women's triple jump, and runners were forced to dodge him.

The Track and Field World Championships avoided disaster on Monday when the men's 3000m steeplechase runners ran around an oblivious cameraman who had wandered onto the track.

According to CBC, the cameraman was filming the nearby women's triple jump and wasn't alerted that runners were coming up behind him.

Luckily, the cameraman stayed still as runners passed him, avoiding a collision that could have wrecked the race.

American runner Evan Jager told The New York Times he was worried about as much.

"I was a little worried that he was going to dart one way or another, right at the last second, but thankfully he didn't realize we were there until we all passed him," Jager said.

Here's a clip of the moment.

—NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) July 19, 2022

India's Avinash Sable won the race with a time of 8:31.75. Perhaps the cameraman proved a difficult obstacle, because it was the slowest men's 3000m steeplechase in World Athletics championships history.