The finishing tape tradition is so pointless. It just gets in the way. Most people naturally tend to decelerate when approaching it because your brains first thought is "I'm about to run into something"...and it also makes it hard to lean at the line when there is a solid object that would be inches from your face.
Kejelcha slowed down the littlest bit at the end because of the tape and it cost him an WR. When the tape is there, it also eliminates the possibility of a complete dive/lay out to finish.
And it's really dumb for them to shove a bunch of flowers in in the winners face less than 5 seconds after he finishes. They just want to win, nobody cares about the flowers or the physical finishing tape.