Athletics 2020 Discussion Thread

[Olympian1010 7,973]

57 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

This is a good one though.

Interesting, I included that rule specifically because it upset me as a distance runner. 

[Olympian1010 7,973]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Oh shit. Not that absolute horror of a semi-knock-out format where the 3rd best of the day can win in events like long jump  

 

Gold with 8.10m, silver with 8.65m and bronze with 8.54m, it is entirely plausible.

Yes, this absolutely what that rule change means.

[heywoodu 15,141]

12 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Interesting, I included that rule specifically because it upset me as a distance runner. 

The time based qualifying positions make for the same unfair possibility again and again: be in the first heat and your chances automatically go way down, since in later heats they simply can (and of course often do) run on a certain pace.

[heywoodu 15,141]

11 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Yes, this absolutely what that rule change means.

Absolute horror for fans of the sport. Trying something new, sure, but once you see it just doesn't work, be big enough to say it wasn't a good idea..

[Olympian1010 7,973]

37 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

The time based qualifying positions make for the same unfair possibility again and again: be in the first heat and your chances automatically go way down, since in later heats they simply can (and of course often do) run on a certain pace.

Personally, I just prefer lower placed athletes qualifying off time. It creates a fair amount of different scenarios, and it can change the tactics from race to race. It rewards runners who run a quick, even if they didn’t run the best race strategically.

 

I think this rule change will just create slower races that constantly come down to a final sprint over the last 300-500m. That’s not inherently a bad thing, but it does pretty much take away all incentive for running a quick race.

 

I think your criticism is valid (and absolutely correct) too. It will be interesting to see what athletes make of these rule changes, and how that changes the way they race.

[Olympian1010 7,973]

43 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Absolute horror for fans of the sport. Trying something new, sure, but once you see it just doesn't work, be big enough to say it wasn't a good idea..

By far the biggest problem with Coe, Bach, and other IF leaders right now.

[heywoodu 15,141]

12 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Personally, I just prefer lower placed athletes qualifying off time. It creates a fair amount of different scenarios, and it can change the tactics from race to race. It rewards runners who run a quick, even if they didn’t run the best race strategically.

 

I think this rule change will just create slower races that constantly come down to a final sprint over the last 300-500m. That’s not inherently a bad thing, but it does pretty much take away all incentive for running a quick race.

 

I think your criticism is valid (and absolutely correct) too. It will be interesting to see what athletes make of these rule changes, and how that changes the way they race.

But for quick races we've got other events, in championships it's all about placement anyway  

 

I'd be in favour of something like climbing where athletes don't see the previous results, but since I doubt that's realistic, this seems better than giving athletes in later heats bigger chances to qualify simply because of the draw.

[dcro 10,210]

2 hours ago, heywoodu said:

The time based qualifying positions make for the same unfair possibility again and again: be in the first heat and your chances automatically go way down, since in later heats they simply can (and of course often do) run on a certain pace.

 

Either minimize the qualifying spots based or time, or just make sure athletes in later heats are unaware of how previous heats went. The latter one should not be that hard to ensure?

[heywoodu 15,141]

6 minutes ago, dcro said:

 

Either minimize the qualifying spots based or time, or just make sure athletes in later heats are unaware of how previous heats went. The latter one should not be that hard to ensure?

Yeah, see my post right above yours  

 

If that's possible, that would quite clearly be the better option.

[dcro 10,210]

42 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Yeah, see my post right above yours  

 

If that's possible, that would quite clearly be the better option.

 

Yeah, but we mustn't forget how athletics program usually moves along at snail pace. With all the waiting involved, 6-7 heats of 800 m take about 50 minutes or something. 

 

Try keeping the times a secret for that long...