Tell us what you think: Should Aselefech Mergia be DQd from 2016 London Marathon?

How'd the third runner who wasn't tripped up go down?

Not a chance of DQ.

She tripped.

If Molly Huddle throwing an arm-bar at the finish is legal, falling down is legal.

No she shouuldn't. It was just an accident.

Yes she was careless and probably even reckless but it definitely wasn't intentional.

That said, she cost Mary a lot of money and who knows(?), probably even a place at the Olympics.

Mary was clearly brought down as a result of Aselefech's carelessness.

It is not clear from the video whether she was tripped by Jemimah's hand but it is possible that in an attempt to move away from the impending disaster, she knocked her foot against something- a table or whatever.

It was caused by Miss Mergia.

edward teach wrote:

How'd the third runner who wasn't tripped up go down?

Domino from Jemima hitting Mary during her fall sending her to the side of the road. Longer, better video:

the youtube link is better because you can set the playback speed to 25% or 50% which helps a lot.

what happened: mergia drifted to her right and sumgong stayed in place. mergia trips up sumgong, then a flailing arm pushes keitany over to the left. keitany trips on her own feet and falls after a few steps.

mergia ought to be DQed but it will never happen because I'm guessing nobody filed a complaint within the allowed 30min or whatever

Did you also watch how Biwott took down Kipsang?

LetsRun.com wrote:

There was a big fall in the women's race at the 2016 Virgin Money London Marathon.

Watch it for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGtp8sJtM5I

Tell us what you think about it. Should Aselefech Mergia be DQd for wiping out Sumgong and Mary Keitany?

If you take someone out from behind in a track race, you are DQd. In marathons, people do crazy stuff near water stops and never get DQd. Why?

What do you think is the proper call?

Ummm, it helps the process if one of the runners lodges a protest.

With all the Kenyans hitting the pavement, I wonder if the chilly weather played a part.

messi wrote:

Ummm, it helps the process if one of the runners lodges a protest.

Can help, but it certainly isn't mandatory for a protest to be lodged for any action to be taken when it comes to an interference call by the referee.

From the videos, it looks like Sumgong started drifting back at the same time Mergia started moving to her right (coming up to an aid station?), resulting in both of them trying to occupy the same space at the same time.

From that angle, doesn't look like grounds for a DQ, but it's a subjective call and obviously there are those on letsrun who feel that they know the absolute truth.

LetsRun.com wrote:

Tell us what you think about it. Should Aselefech Mergia be DQd for wiping out Sumgong and Mary Keitany?

YES disqualify Mergia.

Her purposely erratic tripping took two world class runners out of the race, and cost them quite a bit by doing so.

There is NO EXCUSE for her actions.