Fans attending track cycling events at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia have been warned to hold onto their mobile phones after a spectator dropped one onto the track during a race.
The incident happened during the first session of the opening day of competition at the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane, Queensland, reports AFP.
The mobile phone was dropped during a heat of the mens’ team pursuit, where riders can reach speeds in excess of 60 kilometres an hour.
Fortunately, the dropped phone did not cause a crash, but the episode prompted a warning from the announcer at the packed venue.
He told spectators, “Please be careful, a mobile phone has just been dropped onto the track,” adding that it could have caused a “major accident” had one of the riders struck it.
BBC Sport is currently showing the first evening session at the velodrome, which will see six gold medals decided.

8 thoughts on “Commonwealth Games fans warned after spectator drops mobile phone on velodrome track during race”
Ban the public from carrying
Ban the public from carrying cameras. Watch the racing and leave the photos to the professionals.
Given the fact that just
Given the fact that just about everyone has a mobile on them, and that as far as I’m aware this ‘dropping’ incident is fairly rare, very clear general verbal and written warnings about dropping anything on the track should suffice.
That bloke is just giving all
That bloke is just giving all of us mobile phone users a bad name.
Whenever I have been to
Whenever I have been to velodromes the marshalls have been pretty good at approaching individuals who are close to the barrier to move back. Personally I wouldn’t want to be that close to be able to drop anything in the first place with the speeds they go at!
Just put some fence on.
Just put some fence on.
Like Keirin Japanese often did in their velodrome/track.
Altimis wrote:
A fence didn’t stop Vincenzo Nibali getting hit by a mobile phone in a spectator’s extended hand in the closing stages at Milan-San Remo, knocking it onto the road. A fence is just something else for people to lean over, paying more attention to their intended selfie than to the action right in front of them.
Ban the public – they always
Ban the public – they always cause so many problems!
If they actually let genuine
If they actually let genuine track cycling fans get the seats in the venue they wouldn’t have as many problems 😉