Hughes was on the radio earlier saying he thought he had won the 100m when he crossed the line, which was surprising given that Lyles was clearly ahead of him! Shame really because it was his start that let him down, as is usually the case.
This false start charade needs to stop. Why did they change the rules ?
They changed it from two false starts as some 100-metre finals were becoming a joke. There was one with about six false starts before they got away cleanly, basically because it was worth it for every athlete to give jumping the gun a go. Pretty much every major final had at least one false start on both the men's and women's side.
They originally changed it to one false start being allowed, but then with the whole field being under caution, so that any other false start would result in disqualification. This always felt incredibly unfair as you would punishing the second athlete but not the first, despite them committing the same offence. It also meant that less fancied athletes or the slower-off-the-start runners could deliberately false start to put more pressure on those that were better.
I think the one false start and you're out rule works better than both. It adds a bit of drama, and puts more emphasis on the need for a good (and legal) start and the technique involved in what otherwise, lets be honest, is a quite simple sport. However, what I don't agree with is the rule whereby if you react after the gun but within 0.1 seconds then it's still a false start. Firstly, latest research suggests that elite athletes may be able to react quicker than 0.1 seconds, and secondly, even if not, if an athlete has risked going before the gun and instead timed it perfectly, shouldn't they be rewarded for that?
Yesterday someone got disqualified for starting 0.076 seconds after the gun, which just seems completely wrong. Even more so that they would still be disqualified if it was 0.099 seconds, but not if it was 0.100 seconds. Here is Devon Allen being disqualified in this exact circumstance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-xCYrvfNxM
