USATF Indoors - Josh Thompson - DQ'd??

Please, please, please tell me this isn't true. Please tell me you are trolling.

Do you have proof that he did this? I really hope that's not the case.

And if it is, I don't want to hear how it's Danny's job to do whatever he can for Brooks and under the letter of the law it was a foul. Well guess what, under the letter of the law in 2014, it was a foul for Gabe.

Jonathan Gault makes fun of me as like every 6 months I tell a story about how when I took him to a Patriots-Ravens NFL game a few years ago, I realized I'd made a great hire when I saw he could objectively say, "That's a hold on the patriots." He keeps saying to me, 'I don't get why you always bring that story up.' And i always reply, "Far more people than you think have a really hard time being objective."

Mackey didn't file a protest.

Weldon and I are talking about this.

If the ref is going to DQ Thompson, why in the hell didn't he or she also order the race to be re-held? I've NEVER seen a race re-run in my entire life but it's in the rule book. So if we are going to be a stickler to what the rule book also and DQ, why not also re-run the race?

Because when you are DQing, you are saying that Thompson's foul at a minimum caused Wynne to possibly lose to Prakel (otherwise their would be no need for a DQ as you are suppposed to take into account the "resulting consequent of the foul)". So if that's the case, we need to re-run the race so Wynne has a shot to win.

Weak call. Thompson was already pulling ahead while Wynne was tying up. Stripping a guy over a championship over something that marginal is weak.

#notgoodforthesport

We just a made a video of it:

I like the video.. but is that a lightsaber above your TV?

I..... agree with the brojos here.

That was one of the most standard examples of incidental contact I've ever seen. Nothing odd or unusual, nothing DQ-worthy. Totally normal for some light touching and "cutting off" during a tight indoor race like that. Watch ANY indoor 1500 World Champs race.

Just witnessed a runner cut in worse than this twice in the Camel City Elite women’s mile and no consequences. Is a protest by another athlete required for a DQ?

Gotta tell ya Rojo..nice work on this..when I saw it live..I said to a buddy..I thought there was a weird step in there , but thought nothing of it really..then even on rewatch..you kind of have to be looking for it..let alone think it was a clear impeding infraction. Clearly the guy with the most run and best that day was Thompson, probably cost him 1000's in Bonus money in a sport that is hard to make money in. Kind of a shame.

What's even better than a lightsaber?

1996 Olympic torch. When Weldon was at Yale he got selected to carry the Olympic torch when it came through town.

Weldon wrote up a recap on the meet. Here is what he wrote on the DQ. I 100% agree with it. If you are going to DQ, you also need to re-run the race. All or nothing.

Here's the excerpt.

The record books will show that Sam Prakel had a tremendous USATF indoors in 2023. Prakel won his first USATF indoor title by

letsrun.com

Val Constien and Sam Prakel Win Their First National Titles - USATF Track Indoors Day 1 Recap

LetsRun.com

By LetsRun.com February 17, 2023 Val Constien and Sam Prakel both unleashed furious kicks on the final lap to win their first USATF track titles, as they

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and then followed that up by winning the 1500m on Saturday. The only problem is Prakel crossed the finish line second, well beaten by Josh Thompson.

Then at some point after the results were posted, after the athletes had done all their interviews, after the broadcast was off the air, after World Athletics had imported the results, Thompson was disqualified for violating USATF rule 163.4 which says an athlete “shall be liable to disqualification” if they are responsible for “jostling” “or “obstructing another competitor”.

As for the race, Drew Hunter led for most of it and it was anyone’s race until just over 400 to go when Kasey Knevelbaard of Under Armour made a power move and opened up a gap on the field. Knevelbaard still had a gap on the field at the bell as Henry Wynne, Thompson and Prakel were in pursuit. Wynne went by Kenvelbaard first and had the lead around the final turn as Thompson was tracking him. On the banked turn, Thompson went by Wynne and cut in slightly on Wynne. Wynne hand checked him and Thompson pulled away for the win with Prakel moving up for second.

Standard indoor racing in our book.

Yes, Thompson jostled Wynne. But if you are going to DQ each and every athlete “responsible for jostling”, then at least 50% of indoor 1500m races should have a DQ. That’s why there is a clarification in the rule book that says the “severity of the infraction and resulting consequence” should be factored in.

As for the severity here, Thompson barely touched Wynne (but yes it was in the final 100 of the race), and as a result we don’t think it impacted the outcome of the top 3 at all.

But we assume the rules officials think it did impact Wynne’s finish and potentially prevented him from beating Prakel. But if they are going to be rules sticklers, then why don’t they demand that the race be re-run which is clearly listed an option in the rule book? Yes, we’ve never EVER seen this done before, but why should Prakel be made a national champion for a foul that did not affect him?

Watch the video yourself. The vast majority of track and field fans would agree this should not result in a DQ.

letsrun.com

Sam Prakel Completes the Double*, Nikki Hiltz, Nia Akins Win First USATF Track Titles

LetsRun.com

Sam Prakel made the most of USA indoors, 11 new champions were crowned, and Aleia Hobbs ran really fast.

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Well done..by Weldon....see how I did that..LOL. But.....

Seriously? re -running a 1500M Indoor final to fix one place is not a viable solution or ever happening..I am surprised that it is mentioned as a remedy. It's not even remotely realistic or an option ever...absurd concept to me..when would they do that?

It is indeed listed as an Option..in my 45 years of following T & F..I do not think I have seen a rerun of a Champ race foul or not?

Simply a bad call. Sometimes officials do that. Maybe there should be more discussion about a call like that?

There was barely any contact and it had no effect on the race outcome.

They can use this in official training to say- THIS is a call you do not make.

An alternative take for discussion. This unfortunately is a subjective call as opposed to an objective call like the slightest lane violation (which also might not otherwise impact race result). There was minimal contact as Wynne backed off. So do we allow Thompson to cut Wynne off and 1) make Wynne back off and cede the race or 2) trip each other up if Wynne does not back off (and thus cede the race)? Either way Wynne loses due to Thomson's move. Maybe the right answer is this should be called more often so runners don't cut each other off? If Wynne was not spent this would have changed the outcome of the race. Are runners allowed to cut each other off if they somehow know the other guy is spent? But I will agree consistency of the application of the rule is a must.

Henry was IMPEDED and lost momentum.

what I saw was a runner putting out his hand to the back of another runner unnecessarily there was room for Thomson to slip in front without that 'pat' on the back

Did Henry lose momentum and did that affect where he finished? YES

Stupid DQ. Positioning in indoor gets tight. Don’t want to be *barely cut off? Don’t lose position and get gapped. Simple. L for the protestor, they got outraced.

I love the armchair critics on this forum saying “if I was X, I’d do Y” .. no you wouldn’t. You’re too soft to run on that stage in the first place.