American hurdler Devon Allen was disqualified from last night’s 110m Hurdles final at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon after he was adjudged to have false started by the slimmest of margins 0.0099s.
Allen’s reaction to the gun came just one thousandth of a second early, making it invisible to the naked eye.
Devon Allen SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED.
He didn’t jump the gun.
He didn’t flinch.
He got punished for being TOO FAST.
Watch for yourself.
pic.twitter.com/03xd3S3JHm— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) July 18, 2022
The 27-year-old from Phoenix, Arizona has the quickest time in the world in the event this year having clocked 12.84s in New York earlier in the summer and was one of the favourites to take gold.
Allen has recently been signed as a wide receiver by the Philadelphia Eagles and his false start effectively ends his athletics career.
He pleaded with officials to allow him to race but to no avail.
Fallout to Devon Allen's Disqualification
Former 400m World Record holder Michael Johnson who is part of the BBC commentary team described the false start as “imperceptible”.
“That one definitely is imperceptible,” he said.
"I mean that ones right there on the line. This is something that people on social media are talking about, they don’t understand it, they think that it’s unfair. You used to be able to at least run under protest…these blocks may be overly sensitive who knows? The rules are the rules, but it doesn’t appear fair to a lot of people because they can’t see an actual infraction.”
Johnson would add on Twitter that Allen was "robbed" and called for rules change.
To be clear unfortunately Devon Allen was robbed because of an antiquated World Athletics rule, not by the officials. Officials can’t just decide in the moment to disregard a rule violation even if it’s a stupid and unfair rule. WA need to change the rule!
— Michael Johnson (@MJGold) July 18, 2022
Allen for his part described the situation as a “little frustrating” when speaking to media after.
“It’s so, so close. There’s a lot of margin for error there, the fact that there’s no, I’m not going to say leeway, but that the equipment is 100% perfect. One thousandth is pretty close to the limit. If I’m one thousandth slower everyone’s happy… so it’s a little frustrating. There’s a lot of variables in a race, we’re all getting into set and moving so that may have been a factor as well, it’s hard to say. It’s so absolute, which kind of sucks.”
Even before the final had started there was drama. Olympic champion Hansle Parchment who was one of the pre-race favourites injured himself as he sprinted over a hurdle while warming up.
The Jamaican had one his semi-final earlier in the evening comfortably but appeared to injure his hamstring and was left with no other choice but to withdraw.
Olympic silver medallist Grant Holloway (USA) took victory from compatriot Trey Cunningham. Young Spanish athlete Asier Martinez ran a superb PB to win bronze.
The race only had five finishers as along with Allen and Parchment, Shane Braithwaite from Barbados did not finish the race.
