Start Rule Question

I don't want to be that guy that bumps his own thread.

But this morning we've got a Back In Parking thread which is almost identical to one a couple weeks ago. A Big Bang Theory thread that is almost identical to one a couple weeks ago. And Kara Goucher Drama.

I don't think I bring the level of discourse any lower than it already is.

So Bump.

Looking at the gun is for the timers. You need to look where you are going so you don't trip people.

If you can reliably see the starter, go off of the smoke, but you're not going to gain a significant advantage.

Don't have children.

The three command sprint start from the blocks or the two command standing start?

There is no IAAF or USATF rule that pertains to the directionality or point of focus of an athletes eyes.

This is exactly why Centrowitz won the gold.

https://youtu.be/Grf_62s_95w?t=18

Nice pull!

No rule against it.

You're correct that you will see the gun a few milliseconds sooner than you hear the bang. However, I am curious if this translates into a faster reaction time. I see no reason to assume too strongly that we react the same to visual and aural inputs. It seems possible that we may react faster to sound.

Many elite meets now have switched to electronic guns, so there would be no flash or smoke to react to.

Scottish miler named MacLoofy?

Sdfsdfsdfsdf wrote:

Many elite meets now have switched to electronic guns, so there would be no flash or smoke to react to.

Electronic guns have a flash

Distance guy here, so forgive me if this is a dumb question. I am going to assume that the issue here is really with respect to sprints and not distance races. For a distance race, the microseconds in time savings will be essentially immeasurable and will likely not be relevant since everyone will tend to find the place in the race field where they want to be and settle in to their race plan.

For the sprints, wouldn't you want your head down to get off to a good start in the initial drive stage of the race? I would think that a heads up position would be inefficient.

I doubt the milliseconds it saved me really mattered. But from a psychological standpoint, I always felt more comfortable being first off the line.

I was just curious about whether it was a rule or not. Thanks OP for clarifying.

Is this a rule wrote:

Thanks OP for clarifying.

You're the OP.

Did you just thank yourself?

Tomato Tomato wrote:

Sdfsdfsdfsdf wrote:

Many elite meets now have switched to electronic guns, so there would be no flash or smoke to react to.

Electronic guns have a flash

Most meets turn off the flash. For example indoor nationals last year, they had the flash off.

I've never seen a meet that used an electronic gun. They used a regular starter's pistol at the olympics.

NikeSucks wrote:

I've never seen a meet that used an electronic gun. They used a regular starter's pistol at the olympics.

2012 and 2016 both used an electronic gun. I couldn't find a video showing it, but you can hear that it is an electronic gun in this video:

It is actually in the rules for the olympics that they use an electronic gun, starting in 2012.

The advantage of an electronic gun is that they can put a speaker behind each competitor so that there is no advantage to being on the inside lane next to the starter (it takes about 0.05 seconds for the sound to travel across the track, which can change the winner in a tight 100m race).

The disadvantage is that it is a much "softer" sound that they currently use than a real gun. Also, that puff of smoke is kind of cool IMO.

if the starter is @30 ft. away you see the flash @one 40th of a second faster. not much of a head start for a distance race.