TWO Americans and a Spaniard were gored during the first running of the bulls at this year’s San Fermin Festival, according to medical officials in Pamplona.

A 46-year-old Spanish man was undergoing surgery for serious injuries to his head and leg after he was gored and then tossed by a bull.

Hospital officials said two men from the United States had also been gored during the run but their injuries — in the abdomen for a 35-year-old man and in the scrotum for a 29-year-old — were not considered serious.

More runners were treated on the spot for bruises, a Red Cross spokesman said.

Two of the animals separated from the other four in the pack on their way to Pamplona’s bullring.

The 930-yard (850m) course through cobbled streets was completed in just under three minutes, a speed that is considered average for the run.

Yesterday’s bulls came from the Cebada Gago ranch, renowned for being particularly fierce because they have traditionally caused more injuries.

Since they debuted in Pamplona’s narrow streets in 1985, bulls from the southern Spanish breeding family have gored 53 people.

The San Fermin Festival attracts more than a million visitors to Pamplona every year, from July 6 to 14.

The fiesta was immortalised by Nobel prize laureate Ernest Hemingway in his 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.