LetsRun sleuths do it again! Abdalaati Iguider's 3.32.88 2015 World Leading 1500m was run from the wrong start line!

*Mohammed

World Leader wrote:

International Athletics Meeting of Marseille

Samedi 6 JUIN 2015 from 14.00

Delort Stadium - 13009 MARSEILLE

Race Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05GEhZqhYcQ

Another example of horrible camera work. Camera coverage of track races over one lap has really gone down the toilet in the last 10 years.

Clock stopped half a second too late.

Too juiced to lose?

Just watched the race on the Youtube link. Apart from dreadful camera work/editing of the race, and the fact that the on screen clock seems to have a delay of about 0.4, I'm convinced they started this race from the wrong line!

If you look at the splits on the clock, there is something very weird going on.

Taking Iguider, he goes through 200m (not clearly marked, but it seems to be a faint blue line) in 25.9 ( a bit fast), 300m in 40.4 (a 14.5 100m stretch) and 400m in 56.8 (to their start line). That gives 25.9, 14.5, 16.4!! They don't appear to slow that drastically from 300 to 400m!?

Iguider then goes through 600m in 1:24.3 (a 27.5 200m stretch after a previous one of 30.9)

Unfortunately there is no shot of them passing 700m. But Iguider hits 800m in 1:55.5 (31.2 for that 200m stretch). He hits 1000m (calculating an approx time from how far behind the pacer he is) in c. 2:23.3; another quicker 200m of 27.8.

Perhaps it is better to take the leader's split at this point, as it is clearer what times he hits those marks. I get 1:54.7 at 800 and 2:22.2 at 1000m for the leader. That's 27.5 (55.0 400 speed).

Using the fact that Iguider passes the curved (1 mile start line) at 2:36.1 and he takes c. 1.3 to get from there to the finish line on the last lap, I estimate he hits the bell in c. 2:37.6. That represents 14.2 for that 100m stretch, which sounds about right.

He then goes through 1200m in 2:53.6. There is no way that the 100m from the bell to the 1200m on a last lap, when they are clearly not slowing down, takes 16.0 sec!!!!!

He then hits the (not clear) 1300m line in 3:05.9 (a 12.3 100m!?) and the 100m from home line (1400m) in 3:19.0. A curve of 14.1 seems absolutely in keeping with a last lap of c. 55 sec.

He hits the finish line at 3:32.4, which then carries on to 3:32.9.

Using the onscreen clock, his last 100m was c. 13.4.

So using the 200m split from the supposed start line (at 1200m) to 1400m, we get 25.4. This is far too fast, considering the last lap was around 55.0 sec and the last 100m was 13.4.

There is no way the legitimate last 4 x 100m splits were 16.0, 12.3, 14.1, 13.4 (13.8 if you take the residual follow on).

That time should not stand as a world lead, as they clearly started on the wrong curved line, which is about 10m further back.

I'd appreciate it if others take a look at the video link and have a look at the race/splits themselves. I'm pretty sure I'm not going mad!

No, it is the wrong arc. They should have started at the one about 10m further back.

No.

The other line is either the 320 Hurdle, or the 1500 steeple start line.

Seriously. Athletes would have noticed.

1500 Steeple most likely.

cf.

http://ddata.over-blog.com/xxxyyy/0/44/29/37/Piste-400m.jpg

Deanouk, I just reviewed the footage and they started from the correct line for 1500m.

Why did you think it was the wrong line?

Agree - they should have started on the line, they were all standing behind before being called up to the wrong starting line. You can see the 300m starting mark in lane 3 (right next to where the 5th athlete is placing his foot). You can even see some of the athletes look towards the starter with confusion when he calls them to the mark.

Perfectly marked 400m track yes...but the are still starting from the wrong mark! Time should be about 3:34.3ish

JB06 wrote:

No.

The other line is either the 320 Hurdle, or the 1500 steeple start line.

Seriously. Athletes would have noticed.

I would look for another copy of this race. My guess would be that whomever was taking splits did a bad job, if there was a human element involved.

I'd tend to agree that athletes would notice a mistake with the start line.

Thanks JRinaldi.

To me it's pretty obvious that it was too far along the back straight. You don't run a 16.* followed by a 12.* 100m segment on the last lap, which is what you get if you take the line they started from to take the splits.

Leirbag wrote:

Deanouk, I just reviewed the footage and they started from the correct line for 1500m.

Why did you think it was the wrong line?

Have you read my earlier post or just watched the race. The split times for 100m sections don't add up. They're are too many distorted splits on every lap, from the finish line to the start line, compared to the 100m stretch before and after.

lol lol lol lol wrote:

World Leader wrote:

International Athletics Meeting of Marseille

Samedi 6 JUIN 2015 from 14.00

Delort Stadium - 13009 MARSEILLE

Race Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05GEhZqhYcQ

Another example of horrible camera work. Camera coverage of track races over one lap has really gone down the toilet in the last 10 years.

The low budget Eurosport network bought the rights to English language broadcasts this season. I don't know if that's got anything to do with it.

JRinaldi wrote:

[..]

Perfectly marked 400m track yes...but the are still starting from the wrong mark! Time should be about 3:34.3ish

Just not possible. There are 2 main lines at the end of the turn:

- one for the start of 1500 steeple, where they stand at the beginning

- one for the 1500, where they are called "on your marks" and start

There is no other line to start a 1500 from.

Then maybe an issue with splits, but I just can't believe in them starting on the wrong line.

How can the 1500m steeple start line be behind the 1500m start line when that track has an outside water jump (meaning each lap is longer than 400m when going over the water jump?

A 3:32.88 that is no pr (for Iguider, a 3:29 guy) or national record, nor major championship winner does not merit this kind of analysis. Iguider crosses the line at 3:32.40 onscreen clock. The leader is at 2:53.4 at 1200m, which is leader to leader, 39 seconds last 300m, which is very quick, or 40 from the first line, which is a much more common finish time for such races. We're talking about a second difference. It is possible that they made an error but these French officials tend to be extremely punctilious about everything.

Deanouk wrote:

There is no way the legitimate last 4 x 100m splits were 16.0, 12.3, 14.1, 13.4

WTF are you talking about?

Pausing the video when the leader hits the curved 3000 start (100m in) shows the TV clock at 13.3.

Pause at 100 hash line (middle of relay takeover) = 25.2. (200m in)

Pause at start line: 39.9. (300m in)

Pause back at 1500 start: 54.6. (400m)

That makes 13.3 / 12.9 / 14.7 / 14.7.

Whether or not you think it's realistic, those are the splits on the TV clock. (Which of course is not necessarily well-synced with the actual timing system.)

rupp-certified saladbar wrote:

Deanouk wrote:

There is no way the legitimate last 4 x 100m splits were 16.0, 12.3, 14.1, 13.4

WTF are you talking about?

Pausing the video when the leader hits the curved 3000 start (100m in) shows the TV clock at 13.3.

Pause at 100 hash line (middle of relay takeover) = 25.2. (200m in)

Pause at start line: 39.9. (300m in)

Pause back at 1500 start: 54.6. (400m)

That makes 13.3 / 12.9 / 14.7 / 14.7.

Whether or not you think it's realistic, those are the splits on the TV clock. (Which of course is not necessarily well-synced with the actual timing system.)

I know you are talking about the last lap. The point is that you are not looking at the right markings.

They used the right start.