Sean WallaceJones for IAAF
During its recent meeting in Lisbon, the IAAF Council agreed to test a number of technical rule changes that will be proposed to the next IAAF Congress at the forthcoming World Championships in Athletics, taking place in Edmonton, Canada in August.
Spectators at IAAF Grand Prix II meetings will get a preview of the effect of these proposed new rules before anyone else, as it has been agreed that both the suggested new "no false start" rule and a change in those regarding field events, to allow for fewer attempts by competitors, will be tested at these meetings.
We anticipated the introduction of these possible changes in recent forums in the IAAF News and now they are a step closer to becoming reality.
In simple terms, the proposals are as follows:
1) No false starts – It is proposed that the current rules, which allow for an athlete to be disqualified on their second false start will be changed to a "zero tolerance". In other words, there will be automatic disqualification on the first false start.
The intention of this change is to both discourage athletes from attempting to anticipate the gun or even play the tactic of false starting to put other competitors off their game. Reducing the number of false starts will also make for a better "show" for competitors and avoid delays in the overall competition programme.
What is a false start? Under the current rules, a false start occurs when an athlete comes out of the blocks before the gun or records a reaction time (the lapse of time between the firing of the starting pistol and the athlete coming out of the blocks) of less than 100 thousandths of a second. This reaction time has been established as the lowest achievable by an athlete – according to current findings from various neurological and biomechanical studies. An athlete reacting faster than this time is considered to have "anticipated the gun".
2) The changes in the field events are designed to speed up the competition and make it more "spectator-friendly".
Under the proposed rule changes, throwers and horizontal jumpers will now have two "qualifying attempts" when the field is greater than eight competitors, with the eight best performers advancing to a second round of two attempts each. In this second round those advancing compete in "reverse order", that is to say that the "weakest" performer will go first and the strongest last. Under the current rules, each athlete had three attempts in qualifying and an additional three for those advancing. When there are eight athletes or fewer, the competitors would have four attempts each under the proposed change against the six of the current rules.
In the vertical events – high jump and pole vault – competitors would be allowed two attempts at each height change (against three currently) and a maximum of two consecutive failures, also against three currently.
Will these changes make competition better for the athletes and the spectators – or for either group? It all remains to be seen as the proposed rules go out to "field testing". What do you think about the suggested new rules? You can let us have your opinions and comments in the IAAF Forums.
