Was Mantz pushed to the side in the sprint?

I think a lot of old-school racers would say, "we don't have "lanes" in XC or on the roads. We are jostling and racing. Bumping is part of it in a pack. And if you want to pass, run around me, don't expect me to step out of the way for you."

Look at this photo. Should the two guys on the right be tangled up in a DQ conversation? They were bumping and elbowing each other the whole time!

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That’s some bucket-crab mentality you got there

No, because they were teammates and they did not bump and elbow each other the whole time. How old are you? Geez

Mantz lost. Get over it.

The other guy only could put his arm before Mantz because he was running in front of Mantz.

The phrase "cutting me off" says it all, although Mantz is a gentleman and qualifies it with "partially." In the video, it's beyond clear that Gobena veers pretty noticeably across the white line, moving to the left (from his perspective) and getting his shoulder just in front of Mantz. Feels like a possible violation to me--and worth having this discussion about, and worth Mantz and his agent/manager, whoever takes care of his business, evaluate in a serious way.

Of course his manager is Ed Eyestone. I'd love to know Ed's thoughts on this.

When you do the playback on YT, set the playback speed to .25. Yes, Gobena veers towards Mantz in the final three or four strides, but he could argue, as others have noted here, that he was simply trying for the center of the tape--the tape being not terribly wide. It's also reasonable to think that when guys are literally matching each other stride for stride, completely maxed out, it's hard to remain strictly in a straight approach line. There's some lunge going on, in other words.

The more times I watch the first few seconds of the clip, the less sure i am that a formal complaint from Mantz and Eyestone would result in anything.

When incidents like this happen, I lean strongly towards the runner in the front. The mechanics of the sport mean that trailing and passing at the last possible second is often better than leading the whole way.

The rules should balance this out a bit, and give the leading runner an opportunity to prevent a pass. There are limits to this, of course, but on the roads I don’t think you should DQ a leading runner unless they very clearly cause a fall.

Just watched this.

YES, YES, YES....CM was definitely impeded and or cut-off at the finish line. The race finish should've been reviewed and ultimately corrected to deem Mantz the winner.

Mantz and or his agent should protest the results.

"It's also reasonable to think that when guys are literally matching each other stride for stride, completely maxed out, it's hard to remain strictly in a straight approach line. There's some lunge going on, in other words".

The above quote doesn't make any sense. It doesn't matter how "maxed out" or "stride for stride" you are. Yeah, it's hard to stay in a straight line, unfortunately that doesn't warrant you to drift/dive/fall in front of another runner and impede his/her progress. Mantz and any other runner has a right to finish the race without being impeded...Period!

Full speed looks worse:

How about they just run faster?

Mantz would have had it, were it not for that meddling kid!

Wejo, thanks for posting that.

In slo-mo there is no foul. He literally just reaches forward for the tape. That is not illegal. And why, may I ask, was the tape only wide enough for one runner... Weird. Not Gobena's fault.

African malfeasance is always forgiven or ignored by the brainwashed woke. Always.

Yep. That’s how losing works.

You could fit 4 of them stick figures across the tape at the same time.