Nia Ali jogs first round of 100 hurdles because everyone was advancing to the semis anyway

I always thought there was a rule requiring "bona fide effort," and was wondering why she wasn't DQed. But looking through the USATF rulebook, though that term is used a few times, there actually doesn't seem to be a general rule that would apply here. Anyway, this was weird all around.

I thought it was hilarious - and very smart.

That's what they get for having these nonsense heats where everyone advances.

What kind of energy do you expend over 13 seconds that can’t be entirely replenished in a day? That’s ridiculous.

She said in the post-race interview that she jogged it because her warmup didn’t go right, which I take to mean she thought there was a higher risk of injury.

How about a bona fide effort on the part of this meet's organizers to make races meaningful? Having this race as it was simply meant adding an opportunity for injury. And it wasn't just the hurdles, many other first rounds were set up to eliminate less than 10% of the field. Idiotic.

Do hurdlers ever train going over the hurdles that slowly?

I'm sure i missed it - but why was Lolo Jones in the trials?

Not sure, but I opened Instagram to her crying and asking God why he brought her here. Yikes.

There is no such rule that I can recall.

I wondered (feared) the same thing, recalling the incident with Makhloufi in the 2012 Olympics where he was initially DQed from the 1500 for not putting forth honest effort in the 800. But I guess all is well.

If they had that many scratches why didn't they just cancel the round to shorten the day for everyone else and reduce chance of injury for those running a pointless heat.

I'm not sure what the rule is here, or if there is one, but honest effort rules usually include verbiage about tactics, which is why entire distance fields can't be disqualified for running most of the race at a sub-maximal effort. These tactics even allow people to run slowly down the straightaway while not winning because they are in a qualifying position. Such a rule would still allow Ali to run this way because she is employing a qualifying tactic. Note that this does not allow tactics that span multiple events, like running slowly in the 1500m to be better set up for the 800m.

Nia Ali is fine for dogging it this time, but expect a rule change to enforce bona fide effort in prelims in the future. Why? Jogging the prelim is bad for spectators and TV, and makes the meet organizers look dumb. (I know, it's dumb to make such easy cuts to semis.)

I would make the rule that anyone who advances must finish within 120% of the world record time. In this case 14.54 seconds. That would require the hurdler to use their normal rhythm, and thus real effort, or they're out.

And/or set qualification to ensure each round is meaningful. Cutting from 29 to 27 is superfluous. Semis used to mean two flights, not three (16 semifinalists, or 18 using all nine lanes).

I would think that with the cadence of the 100 / 110 hurdles, it would actually be awkward for elite sprinters to go so much slower than a true race pace. To the point they're more likely to trip or hit more hurdles.

Having a round of races where no one is eliminated is really dumb.

Moran

Because she beat Ali in the heat by 7 seconds.

They run the heat to simulate the Olympics, and in the Olympics you try to run as slowly as you can without jeopardizing advancement to the next round.