Edmonton Journal

Repechage round to give track athletes another chance

World Athletics has come to the rescue of countless Olympians by institutin­g a repechage round for 12 track events at Paris 2024.

The races impacted include the 100-metre hurdles for women and 110m hurdles for men, as well as the 200m, 400m, 400m-hurdles, 800m and 1,500m races for both men and women. Each of these events will now feature four rounds of competitio­n.

Repechage gives athletes who lost in preliminar­y rounds a chance to stay in contention. It has been a staple in rowing, wrestling and cycling events at previous Olympics, but the widespread second-chance option has never before been extended to athletics.

Had it been in place for Rio 2016, Canadian sprinter Brendon Rodney would have received another shot at advancing to the 200-metre semifinals. Instead, his 20.34-second clocking left him in third place in his quarterfin­al heat and on the outside looking in, while three other athletes who ran times of 20.42, 20.44 and 20.58 advanced by finishing in the top two in their quarterfin­als, as did another athlete with the same time as Rodney.

Fleshing out the field of 24 sprinters in the semifinals were the so-called four “fastest losers.” Canada's Aaron Brown was one of them, having finished third in his heat with a time of 20.23 seconds.

The World Athletics Council approved the repechage rounds during a meeting in 2022, ensuring that every athlete competing in Paris in the impacted events will have at least two races. By doing so, they also eliminated the “fastest losers” system of qualificat­ion for advancemen­t to the next round.

The 100m was not tabbed for a repechage round because it already comprises four rounds. A preliminar­y round precedes the heats. It was also decided that distances longer than 1,500m would not be included, given the need for proper recovery between rounds.

“After consulting with our athletes and broadcaste­rs, we believe this is an innovation which will make progressio­n in these events more straightfo­rward for athletes and will build anticipati­on for fans and broadcaste­rs,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said in 2022. “The repechage rounds will give more exposure to our sport during the peak Olympic period and will be carefully scheduled to ensure that every event on our Olympic program retains its share of the spotlight.”