400m Final: Why is Van Niekerk in Lane 8?

He's from South Africa, but if the Brazilian fans are tipsy they will cheer for the green and yellow, and he will be closest to fans. Very shrewd pick.

Ranking and Composition of Heats

3. (a) For the first round, the athletes shall be placed in heats using the zigzag distribution with the seeding determined from the relevant list of valid performances achieved during the predetermined period.

(b) After the first round, the athletes shall be placed in the heats of subsequent rounds in accordance with the following procedures: (i) for events of 100m to 400m inclusive, and relays up to and

including 4 × 400m, seeding shall be based upon placings and times of each previous round. For this purpose, athletes shall be ranked as follows: Fastest heat winner

2nd fastest heat winner

3rd fastest heat winner, etc.

Fastest 2nd place

2nd fastest 2nd place

3rd fastest 2nd place, etc.

(Concluding with) Fastest time qualifier

2nd fastest time qualifier

3rd fastest time qualifier, etc.

RULE 166 178

Draw for Lanes

per Rule 166.1, the lane order shall be drawn by lot. (b) For the following rounds, athletes shall be ranked after each round in accordance with the procedure shown in Rule

IAAF COMPETITION RULES 2016-2017

(ii) for other events, the original performance lists shall continue to be used for seeding, modified only by improvements in performances achieved during the earlier round(s).

(c) the athletes shall then be placed in heats in the order of seeding in a zigzag distribution, e.g. three heats will consist of the following seedings:

A 1 6 7 12 13 18 19 24 B 2 5 8 11 14 17 20 23 C 3 4 9 10 15 16 21 22

in all cases, the order in which heats are to be run shall be determined by draw after the composition of the heats has been decided.

4. For events 100m to 800m inclusive, and relays up to and including 4 × 400m, where there are several successive rounds of a race, lanes will be drawn as follows: (a) in the first round and any preliminary qualification round as

166.3(b)(i) or, in the case of 800m, 166.3(b)(ii). three draws will then be made: (i) one for the four highest ranked athletes or teams to

determine placings in lanes 3, 4, 5 and 6; (ii) another for the fifth and sixth ranked athletes or teams to

determine placings in lanes 7 and 8, and (iii)another for the two lowest ranked athletes or teams to

determine placings in lanes 1 and 2

I get it, thanks.

**guess he'll need to count on those tipsy Brazilians then, lol.

Top four seeds randomly draw lanes 3-6.

I thought the lower four seeds randomly drew the remaining lanes.

Apparently, the 5 and 6 seeds randomly draw lane 7 or 8 and the bottom two seeds get the two inside lanes.

Lane 8 is better than the tight lanes 1 and 2.

Anyway, not getting a top four seed puts him in a bad spot.

Star wrote:

Top four seeds randomly draw lanes 3-6.

I thought the lower four seeds randomly drew the remaining lanes.

Apparently, the 5 and 6 seeds randomly draw lane 7 or 8 and the bottom two seeds get the two inside lanes.

Lane 8 is better than the tight lanes 1 and 2.

Anyway, not getting a top four seed puts him in a bad spot.

Yeah a bit of a rookie error if you ask me. It woldn't have taken a lot more energy to win that semi and get a good lane for the final.

Anyway - it gives the final another twist.

Karma Police wrote:

Yeah a bit of a rookie error if you ask me. It woldn't have taken a lot more energy to win that semi and get a good lane for the final.

Anyway - it gives the final another twist.

He wasn't going to beat Cedenio in that semi. Cedenio for the win in the final!

Felix and Miller in same heat in women's 400 semi but I imagine loser will be the fastest non heat winner and get a decent lane.

Something about not winning his semifinal i suppose.

some scenarios and chances of it happening in my opinion:

1) starts a bit slow and doesn't realize it (he would need to lose like 8 meters in order for the guy in lane 7 to pass him i guess) Doesn't recover the lost ground in time. (3% chance)

2) Does his own thing by judging his effort (6%)

3) Kamikaze style like last year for the first 150m, gracefully floats the next 80m meters and then reinvests the remaining 170m. (90%)

4) Run it like a 300m and hope not too fade too much (actually is how we're told to run it) but I mean it like your real 300m ability. (1%)

He should have won his heat however and maybe get lane 3/4 behind the other 2 beasts.

Kirani, however was very convincing with an easy 44:02 yesterday so I think he will retain his title and maybe rank #3 in the 400m list. Maybe Merritt 2nd place was just a bluff too, we'll see it in 3 hours.

Very excited for this race, should have been after the 100m, but of course pseudo fans who only see track every 4 years prefer the short atention span of the 100m.