UPDATE DOHA 2019 | Ortega wins appeal, earns shared 110m hurdles bronze

Spain's Orlando Ortega will be awarded a bronze medal after being impeded by Jamaica's Omar McLeod in their 110m hurdles final at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday.

Ortega was third in the race when the incident took place but finished fifth after McLeod entered his lane and the two athletes made contact.

Team Spain then lodged an appeal to the IAAF requesting that under Rule 163.2 a) either the race be reheld, or Ortega be allowed to compete alone. Spain also requested that if neither of those requests were granted, Ortega be awarded the medal corresponding to his third place position, as a fair sporting gesture.

IAAF rejected the first appeal, saying that the incident was 'not unusual in hurdles events,' but reversed its decision on Thursday. But the IAAF did not say why the case was heard again, or the decision changed.

Although Ortega will be given the bronze medal, it does not affect Frenchman Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, who finished the race third behind the United States' Grant Holloway and Russian neutral athlete Sergey Shubenkov, who were first and second respectively.

This is not the first time a bronze medal position will be shared by two athletes at these Championships, as Polish hammer thrower Wojciech Nowicki won an appeal over the validity of Hungarian Bence Halasz’s throw for third place. Both were given the bronze at the ceremony Thursday after the jury declined to revoke Halasz’s medal.

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