According to athletics judge Pasi Oksanen, the location of the broadcast loudspeakers could be Devon Allen’s fate in the men’s high-speed hurdles.
The men’s 110-meter hurdles final took a dramatic turn in Oregon when the U.S Devon Allen was rejected due to fraudulent output. Allen took off one millisecond too early.
Known for his quick reaction, Allen was very disappointed with the decision. However, the reaction time of 0.100 seconds recorded in the rules is unambiguous.
Acting as an international athletics referee Pasi Oksanen has followed the World Championships in Oregon and noticed a clear reason for the exceptionally good reaction times.
For more than ten years, an electric gun has been used in athletics competitions, whereby the sound that sends the runners on their way comes from the speakers behind the athletes. At the World Championships in Athletics, the loudspeakers are placed exceptionally close to the athletes.
– The sound source is apparently for some reason closer than normal in competitions, so the average reaction times are lower. In such a case, it is possible that there will be such one-thousandth frauds for the good ones.
A simple solution
The reaction times of the men’s speed hurdle finalists were generally better than usual in the competition. For example, to run for silver in a competition by Trey Cunningham the reaction time was 0.109.
A time below 0.130 seconds has been considered a particularly good reaction time. In the final, all the medalists set off under that reaction time.
– This is all about physics and the time it takes for sound to travel through the air.
– If the sound source is now 3–4 meters away, then if it were moved to ten meters away from the athletes, I would say that there would be no such one-thousandth errors.
Oksanen has raised the matter in the International Athletics Federation and, if necessary, moved the loudspeakers further away from the athletes, in which case there has been no problem. Oksanen does not know the exact reason for the close location of the speakers at the World Championships.
– This has been discussed. The devices come from Seiko and their layout and other things are in the hands of the technical operators.
According to Oksanen, it is strange that the organizers have not monitored the reaction times beforehand and noticed the problem.
Athletes with a fast reaction time suffer
It is possible that too fast reaction times will be a problem for other World Championship athletes as well. Among other things, a quick beeper Reetta Hurskeen reaction time has been generally excellent.
In Hurske’s record run of 12.78 in 2019, the Finnish runner’s reaction time was 0.118 seconds. Next Saturday, Hurske will run in the preliminaries of the women’s 100-meter hurdles.
According to Oksanen, the International Athletics Federation should update its rules regarding reaction time. Originally, the 0.1 second rule was made for gunpowder weapons, when the sender stood further away from the athletes.
– When we enter a new era, the international federation should dare to update this rule and think about what the real false start is today.