What do you think of 3 race semifinals?

[lalala]

Because it seems to be becoming more and more prevalent, especially at these championships, and, frankly, I absolutely hate them! I fail to see any real reason for it to be honest. Ok, they want to encourage a few fastest losers to go through, but take the women's 200m tomorrow- there are 6 heats, and there are 16 women overall who have run inside 23 seconds this year, pretty evenly distributed amongst the heats. So why not just first 2 and fastest 4? Instead, we have the top 3 and 6 fastest leaving us with the problem of three semis which could be affected by wind (remember Helsinki when the obviously inferior Jenny Kallur made the final over Susanna thanks to a change in wind direction?) The 100m never seems to have to go to three semis, why do the longer events (and the hurdles- particularly the women's- seem to be prone to this too)!?

For the longer events, it all comes down to the tenor of the race, so gone are the tactics one would usually employ in the 800m, and it comes down to the time the winner chooses to run...

The reason I bring this up is simple- I've never heard ANYONE on here actually being an advocate of it, so why do they still bother? Do the athletes actually like the system? The only advantage I can see is that more people get a second race at the games, which is obviously for the good of developing athletes, but the top athletes must hate what makes things, for all intents and purposes, a lottery...

[nevetsllim]

I hate it. A semi-final indicates two, not three races and having two semi-finals will make the heats much more competitive because the majority of them have just seen the main athlete ease through.

And when you do get two semi-finals, they sometimes have a 3+2 fastest losers into the final :?

[SQUACKEE]

I hate it, one heat tops!

[3a]

They are vomit worthy for the 800m.

They make me want to kill someone for the 400m and 400m hurdles


NOW they are doing three heat semis for the 100m hurdles, in the BERLIN stadium where the wind can go from +2 to -2 in a matter of seconds. I want to kill 10 people. Livid. The admi decision of these champs have cost so many people medals and altered the results of so many events. WOmens pole vault height choices, three heat semi's everywhere, the make up of the heats...

Hell, there were four heats in the mens 200m but some idiot managed to put the 2 French together? Enraging. Not to mention the slew of events that finish together so you can't really celebrate athletes' victories and then putting medal ceremony's on 15 before evening action begins so no one is in the stadium to watch, and likewise, 10 minutes after the action ends. :evil:

[Weights&Shoes]

I hate it, but what determines 3 or 2 Semi's? How many people qualify for the Championships? or does the IAAF set that in advance so only a certain amount of people get in?

[lalala]

I hate it, but what determines 3 or 2 Semi's? How many people qualify for the Championships? or does the IAAF set that in advance so only a certain amount of people get in?

I think it's a mix of the two. They don't finalise the timetable until the entries are in I don't think...

[mump boy]

hate hate hate hate hate :x

[Flumpy]

And they are only a recent thing. Certainly this decade.

They're just infuriating. Especially in a 800m when the heat are not evenly distributed anyway.

[3a]

I hate it, but what determines 3 or 2 Semi's? How many people qualify for the Championships? or does the IAAF set that in advance so only a certain amount of people get in?

I think it's a mix of the two. They don't finalise the timetable until the entries are in I don't think...

The only thing it's a mix of is, A)Laziness, B)Bad Admin C)TV friendly organisation.

I'm sorry, I thought the athletes were the most important part of the champs, not the TV Networks.

[lonewolf]

Three heats is not a "semi-final." I can't think of a word for it. It is not a ":semi-semi-final..."tri-final" doesn't sound quite right. :?

[TNT]

hate it

[cacique]

I hate it, but what determines 3 or 2 Semi's? How many people qualify for the Championships? or does the IAAF set that in advance so only a certain amount of people get in?

it's obviously a function of how many athletes are entered. so to go from let's say 38 athletes to 16 is a bit too draconian, so they have to compromise and pare it down to 24, which makes it a 3 semis round. on the other hand, if they have let's say 58 athletes (for 100 m e.g.), they can pare it down to 32 (QT) then 16 (semis).

i think 3 semis is tougher and a different affair for 1500 m than let's say the 100H/110H. hopefully the seeding is done correctly. but it's tough.

[cacique]

3a, please tell us how you really feel. don't beat around the bush now!

how do you like the fact that they put jepkosgei again with semenya in the semis (after they ran the prelims together)?

[cacique]

one solution to avoid the 3 semis scenario is however an extra round, so the athletes may not like that. so using lalala's example of the w200 (i haven't counted how many are entered) but from six heats, i'm guessing there are close to 40-ish entrants. to go from 40+ to 16 is too drastic. to go to 32 then 16, it involves another round. 3 semis then becomes the "best" solution.

[Vault-emort]

When there are THREE medals to be decided, NO RACE (heat or sf) should allow less than the THREE first across the line to qualify for the subsequent round.

The craze of THREE semi-finals should be purged from the championship calendar until every track conducting championships has NINE lanes to use in the final.