We asked Demarius Smith, who was in the middle of the delayed second exchange Friday night and had the slowest split today, if he was beinng personally coached by US relay coach Darryl Woodson. Smith: "There's no proof of that. That's first. Second of all, it doesn't matter...Keep doubting me. I'll be back."
The same thing that happened in this Zambia/U.S. inside/out exchange also happened on the next exchange between Zambia/Kenya. Nearly identical.
See the reply beginning about the 4:25 mark. Zambia on the inside and Kenya to the outside coming into the final exchange. Then the hand/baton cross over between the two teams a few seconds after.
Wow, I didn't even notice that during the live race.
Maybe the solution is to change the policy of officials establishing position at the 200m mark and instead wait until they reach the homestretch. The runners should be running a straight line; make adjustments as soon as they hit the straight and then don't shift them again.
See the reply beginning about the 4:25 mark. Zambia on the inside and Kenya to the outside coming into the final exchange. Then the hand/baton cross over between the two teams a few seconds after.
Wow, I didn't even notice that during the live race.
Maybe the solution is to change the policy of officials establishing position at the 200m mark and instead wait until they reach the homestretch. The runners should be running a straight line; make adjustments as soon as they hit the straight and then don't shift them again.
I would 2nd your suggestion. When positions are set at 200m it limits options about how to move on legs. Sprinters who are better at going out fast and holding on have an advantage over those who positive split less over the final 100/200. Relays should provide options for all types of tactics and using the strengths of different types of sprinters. Waiting until the 100m mark to set the next exchange is fine. At 200m - it is "over officiating."
US team was so bad they still may not make it through. These guys were a bunch of chumps. No idea why they thought they could get away with such a crap team. Deadmon in particular sucks.
Worst take I've seen this championship, you do not watch track.
What exactly was incorrect about this? The guys ran like crap even without the handoff issue. They should beat Kenya, but who knows when our 400 guys took a collective dump this championship in the open and this relay. Smith and Deadmon are ass.
It wasn't this exchange, it was the next one (3 to 4) with Zambia involved again.
I'm glad you posted that picture though because it shows what caused this - the US should never have been lined up inside of the Zambian team. The current rule says that the order at the 200m mark determines the order in the exchange. At the 200m point the US team were clearly in 4th place behind SA, Zambia and the Dutch. If the US team is lined up outside of Zambia as they should have been, this doesn't happen. That's a horrible officials botch.
On the final exchange where Kenya are impeded, it's because their runner gets run down by the guy from Zambia. However this time the officials have decided to follow the rules and have them lined up correctly but this disadvantages the Zambians because they were lined up outside and yet they ended up ahead of the Kenyans. So what should the Zambian runner do here? Let the Kenyan guy back in front of him because their guy is lined up inside his?
The whole changeover situation isn't easy but inflexibility in the rules and not allowing common sense to prevail is making an absolute mess here. Like this race.
Wow, I didn't even notice that during the live race.
Maybe the solution is to change the policy of officials establishing position at the 200m mark and instead wait until they reach the homestretch. The runners should be running a straight line; make adjustments as soon as they hit the straight and then don't shift them again.
I would 2nd your suggestion. When positions are set at 200m it limits options about how to move on legs. Sprinters who are better at going out fast and holding on have an advantage over those who positive split less over the final 100/200. Relays should provide options for all types of tactics and using the strengths of different types of sprinters. Waiting until the 100m mark to set the next exchange is fine. At 200m - it is "over officiating."
And they always used to do this!
Every 4x4 I ever ran in was done this way. You have to have some preliminary order that makes sense right? Do that based on the 200m point. But you've got at least what, 8 or so seconds once the athletes round the curve and are on the straight - that's more than enough time for athletes to logically align themselves and this was always the way I remember it being done.
Even if you go back and watch 4x4's from the past you will see athletes swapping positions late to make sense for their incoming runners, and in 99% of cases it works. Having this rule of an order at 200m translating to the finish is idiotic for obvious reasons. It's assuming that there is no overtaking or position changes possible in the final 200? What about a scenario where a guy paces himself well in the opening 200 and maybe crosses in 5th or 6th place and runs down the field in the final 200 and leads with 50m to go - does he has to diagonally run across the track to get to his teammate out in lane 6 because that's where he was at the 200m point?
the real problem with the 4x400 isn't handoff confusion, but having the handoffs so close to the turn. Everyone is immediately squeezed together right after the exchange.
It would be hard to start the relay on the straightaway, every existing track would have to be repainted. But there's also no particular reason why the exchange zone should be so short. Extend it further back on the straightaway and teams will have more room to make clean exchanges.
I don't care at the moment what the USA 4 x 4 runners PR's are. And obviously they where impacted. However, they ran like a__t. USA runs a freaking C- team and plays for it. The world has caught up. That was pathetic.
Man, i'm rewatching the 4x400 heat - what the heck were our guys doing? Not passing on the curve is like, day 1 stuff. You don't do it against a field like that. Each of them basically ran 405 meters.
Looks like South Arica are given a second chance to qualify for the 4 x 100m by running alone on Sunday morning in lane 6. If they run faster than the 8th qualifier, then they are in.
the real problem with the 4x400 isn't handoff confusion, but having the handoffs so close to the turn. Everyone is immediately squeezed together right after the exchange.
It would be hard to start the relay on the straightaway, every existing track would have to be repainted. But there's also no particular reason why the exchange zone should be so short. Extend it further back on the straightaway and teams will have more room to make clean exchanges.
The exchange zone is 20 meters long, starting 10 meters before the start/finish line and ending 10 meters after.
Why not just start 10 and make them share lane 1? Doesn't seem fair to have them have to race on the day of the championship.
It won't hurt the USA any if they can win this because then they can then sit their C team down and replace them with their top runners all running with fresh legs. But they have to win the 2 team race first.