Following Usain Bolt’s false-start disqualification from the World Championship 100m final, I can only hope the sudden death false-start rule is amended before the Olympics next year.
I await some explanation of what was wrong with the previous “two strikes and you’re out” rule.
Comments
I do think that the one strike and you’re out method is a little harsh, but the previous rules were playing havoc with the schedules. I remember the days when a race would go off fifteen minutes later than planned following a battery of false starts.
I think the IAAF took their cue from FINA, who have employed a one false start rule for a number of years now in major events.
15 minutes? That’s hard to believe, I’ve never seen anything beyond one or two false starts in all my years of watching track & field. And you could introduce some intermediate rule, I suppose: two strikes applies till there have been two false starts, then sudden death.
But personally I’d go back to the old rule.