n alarming moment during the Paris Olympics women’s 10,000-meter final unfolded when French runner Alessia Zarbo collapsed onto the track in front of a home crowd. |

As her competitors rounded a corner to complete lap 21 of 25 around the 26-minute mark of the race on Friday, Aug. 9, medical personnel could be seen assisting the 22-year-old athlete in lanes three and four.

“Oh my God,” an NBC announcer said after noticing the fallen Olympian as the lead pack passed her and the medics from the inside lanes. Although Zarbo — a former French national champion in both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter distances — did not finish this Olympic race, she has a previous personal best of 32:28.57 that she set in 2022.

On Friday, Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet won the Olympic 10,000-meter final with a blistering time of 30:43.25, earning her second gold in Paris Italy’s Nadia Battocletti and Dutch star Sifan Hassan, the defending champion in this race, finished with silver and bronze.

Zarbo was the second athlete stretchered off the track in as many days. On Wednesday, Aug. 7, Ethiopian runner Lamecha Girma was medically removed from the race