A track worker was a split second from disaster at the IBSF World Cup event at Lake Placid when the four-man Monaco team came inches from taking him out while hurtling at breakneck speed.
The worker reportedly strayed onto the track during the Monaco team’s test run, in the mistaken belief that the bobsleigh had stopped its descent after overturning.
But the four-man team had returned upright and was hurtling towards the finish.
The track man finally appeared to be startled into taking evasive action just as the bobsleigh careened around the corner.
The man leapt to the side of the track just as the team passed inches below him.
Frightening footage of the incident picks up desperate cries of “get out of the track” before a bewildered TV commentator asks, “what was that guy doing?”
“He thought they were still upside down… Wow, that was close!” exclaims another relieved pundit.
The event at Lake Placid in the US on Saturday was won by the Canadian team piloted by Justin Kripps. The Latvian team driven by Oskars Kibermanis came in silver, while and Russia's Maxim Andrianov piloted his team to third.
After the terrifying near-miss, the Monaco crew piloted by Rudy Rinaldi came in joint last, 19th place.
The teams reached top speeds of over 120km per hour (75mph) as they navigated the Lake Placid course.