All track qualifying should be by the fastest times only, the same as is always done in swimming.
The only exception should be if there are rare different weather conditions between heats.
Track competitions would greatly advance by making this change, because the current system always results in slowing things down.
They ran fast because the heat they were in was the fastest, and they were 7/8 in their heat, and almost qualifying. That they ran fast says the system works - no need for a time-qualifiers. Again an advantage for the later heat qualifiers as they know what the earlier heats have run in a time-only scenario, no different than little q's. The purpose of rounds is to weed out the better racers/ better runners from those who are not. That swimmers may need to go fast in a morning prelim and can do so again in an evening final, shows that the sport is completely different. Sprinters do that (100m/110mH), but no way a 800/1500m runner can do that if they are maxed out in the earlier round.
Why do you care if the qualifying rounds are slow? what difference does it make to you? I like that athletes have to beat others, regardless of their time. The athlete who runs 1/10th of a second faster than someone not in their heat, but gets through anyway is an unfair system if they were the same place/position in their respective heats.
Sophie's time beat EVERYONE in Heat 1, EVERYONE in Heat 2, and EVERYONE in Heat 4.
She had the 8th fastest time of the day, out of 56 athletes.
18 athletes that ran SLOWER than Sophie advanced to the next round.
This system is a FAILURE. The 2024 olympics will only make it worse with a repechage round.
They ran fast because the heat they were in was the fastest, and they were 7/8 in their heat, and almost qualifying. That they ran fast says the system works - no need for a time-qualifiers. Again an advantage for the later heat qualifiers as they know what the earlier heats have run in a time-only scenario, no different than little q's. The purpose of rounds is to weed out the better racers/ better runners from those who are not. That swimmers may need to go fast in a morning prelim and can do so again in an evening final, shows that the sport is completely different. Sprinters do that (100m/110mH), but no way a 800/1500m runner can do that if they are maxed out in the earlier round.
Why do you care if the qualifying rounds are slow? what difference does it make to you? I like that athletes have to beat others, regardless of their time. The athlete who runs 1/10th of a second faster than someone not in their heat, but gets through anyway is an unfair system if they were the same place/position in their respective heats.
Sophie's time beat EVERYONE in Heat 1, EVERYONE in Heat 2, and EVERYONE in Heat 4.
She had the 8th fastest time of the day, out of 56 athletes.
18 athletes that ran SLOWER than Sophie advanced to the next round.
This system is a FAILURE. The 2024 olympics will only make it worse with a repechage round.
In the current system athletes know exactly where they need to finish to qualify. If they can't do that they don't deserve to advance. If you are going on time there is no need to even race. Just hold time trials.
I bet Wiley could have run 4:01 in that heat. All she needs is some competition to push her and Simpson's collegiate record is gone. O'Sullivan just made herself an early favorite for NCAAs, though.
O'Sullivan, 4:02.15
Wiley, 4:03.22
O'Sullivan faster, but Wiley has a higher ceiling.
Ceilings in foresight are estimated or projected ceilings
Sophie's time beat EVERYONE in Heat 1, EVERYONE in Heat 2, and EVERYONE in Heat 4.
She had the 8th fastest time of the day, out of 56 athletes.
18 athletes that ran SLOWER than Sophie advanced to the next round.
This system is a FAILURE. The 2024 olympics will only make it worse with a repechage round.
There was clear separation from 6th to 7th and 7th to 8th. This is how the system should work. Sophie had nothing to do with the pace and shouldn’t have the advantage over every 6th placer because they happened to be in a heat that was slower than hers. Every single 6th placer could run 4:02 and most probably would been ahead of Vissa and with the first 6 here.
Sophie's time beat EVERYONE in Heat 1, EVERYONE in Heat 2, and EVERYONE in Heat 4.
She had the 8th fastest time of the day, out of 56 athletes.
18 athletes that ran SLOWER than Sophie advanced to the next round.
This system is a FAILURE. The 2024 olympics will only make it worse with a repechage round.
There was clear separation from 6th to 7th and 7th to 8th. This is how the system should work. Sophie had nothing to do with the pace and shouldn’t have the advantage over every 6th placer because they happened to be in a heat that was slower than hers. Every single 6th placer could run 4:02 and most probably would been ahead of Vissa and with the first 6 here.
Why should the others receive an advantage over Sophie because they were in a much weaker section?
Sophie ran faster than Faith Kipyegon, Sifan Hassan, and Laura Muir.
People that ran 4:04 running all-out efforts in their slower sections will advance while Sophie goes home despite having run 2 seconds faster than them.
You go into a championship qualifying heat knowing what you have to do to advance. If it's top two automatically advance and then 2 fastest times from the heats, then your goal is finish top two. If it's top 6 finishers in the heat advance then your goal is finish top 6. She will learn how to advance in the future as she is a very good young runner.
Why should the others receive an advantage over Sophie because they were in a much weaker section?
Sophie ran faster than Faith Kipyegon, Sifan Hassan, and Laura Muir.
People that ran 4:04 running all-out efforts in their slower sections will advance while Sophie goes home despite having run 2 seconds faster than them.
You’re delusional. The heats were pretty even and Sophie was a distant 8th. It’s pretty likely she finished between 7th-9th in any heat she’d be put in.
There was clear separation from 6th to 7th and 7th to 8th. This is how the system should work. Sophie had nothing to do with the pace and shouldn’t have the advantage over every 6th placer because they happened to be in a heat that was slower than hers. Every single 6th placer could run 4:02 and most probably would been ahead of Vissa and with the first 6 here.
Why should the others receive an advantage over Sophie because they were in a much weaker section?
Sophie ran faster than Faith Kipyegon, Sifan Hassan, and Laura Muir.
People that ran 4:04 running all-out efforts in their slower sections will advance while Sophie goes home despite having run 2 seconds faster than them.
your premise is wrong. Tanaka, 6th in heat 1 in 4:04 has a pr of 3:59, Guerroro 6th in heat 2 in 4:04 has a PR of 4:02 while Cavelliein heat 4 basically equalled her pr of 4:03. No guarantees O'Sullivan would have beaten them. The Qs are the Qs.
The way to qualify out of the heats at this meet was top 6 places and this is fine. Just wondering why do we need qualifying rounds though? Why not 4 timed final sections seeded by SB times? Fastest 8 runners first section followed by next fastest 8 runners second section etc.
I've raced championships meets where we had to finish top two in the heats to auto qualify and I liked that format. It's fair and known in advance of the meet so no issues. The best athletes qualified through to the final.
Is this a better format than timed final sections? I don't know but I believe the top athletes will emerge as medalists in either format.
This post was edited 4 minutes after it was posted.
Why should the others receive an advantage over Sophie because they were in a much weaker section?
Sophie ran faster than Faith Kipyegon, Sifan Hassan, and Laura Muir.
People that ran 4:04 running all-out efforts in their slower sections will advance while Sophie goes home despite having run 2 seconds faster than them.
your premise is wrong. Tanaka, 6th in heat 1 in 4:04 has a pr of 3:59, Guerroro 6th in heat 2 in 4:04 has a PR of 4:02 while Cavelliein heat 4 basically equalled her pr of 4:03. No guarantees O'Sullivan would have beaten them. The Qs are the Qs.
you actually proved him right. those athletes were running as fast as they could to get top 6 in their heats. Tanaka ran her fastest time in 2 years with her 4:04. Guerrero ran her fastest time in 2 years with her 4:04. Cavelli was giving 100% the whole time. Yet Sophie was 2 seconds faster than her.
On the day, Sophie was better than them. PERIOD. This rule is idiotic.
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