Saturday was a black day not just for the US athletics, but all around the world. Former US marathon champ Ryan Shay died as he was running during a qualifying race for the US Olympic marathon team.

The tragic scene in which the side-ways spectators saw the 28-year-old suddenly collapsing, occurred some nine kilometers into the 42.195km race in Central Park. The medical staff supervising the event immediately intervened but unfortunately nothing could be done for Shay to survive.

Even at this stage of the investigation the cause of the former marathon winner is unknown.

“You always think, why didn’t we see this coming?” said Joe Shay, Ryan’s father. “Ryan never complained about anything. He said everything like that was an excuse for lack of preparation.”

The head of New York City marathon Mary Wittenberg and the head of the US athletics federation Craig Masback expressed their sorrow after the tragic death of Ryan Shay.

Ryan Hall, the winner of the qualifying race during which the death occurred and at the same time a friend of Shay, stated after the race that his thoughts and prayers were with Shay's family and Alicia, his wife who is also a professional runner.

“I was just shocked when I heard. It’s hard to believe a dream comes true and that I lost a friend today,” Hall said.

A few years ago, Shay was unlucky and suffered an injury during the qualifying race for the 2004 Olympics. He was then forced to withdraw, but this time it wasn’t a matter of luck anymore, it was just fate.

This unfortunate event follows another tragic death that occurred this week in the United States. Just a week ago, a hobby runner collapsed and died during the Chicago marathon.