Athletics history was made at the world indoor championships in Birmingham on Friday morning when every athlete in a heat of the men’s 400m was disqualified.
The fun started when the Qatari Abdalelah Haroun, who won outdoor bronze in London last year and was considered one of the favourites for gold, twitched in his blocks and was given a red card for a false start.
That left the remaining four athletes in the heat to go at it – and initially it appeared that there were no problems as Bralon Taplin from Grenada, who holds the fastest time this year, sprinted home in just over 46 seconds.
However when officials looked back at the tape they realised that every remaining athlete in the field – Taplin along with Steven Gayle from Jamaica, Austris Karpinskis from Latvia and Alonzo Russell from the Bahamas – had committed a lane infringement by running out of their lane just before the end of the first lap.
Grenada lodged a protest on Taplin’s behalf but the appeal was rejected.
Speaking after the race, Haroun didn’t appear too disappointed. “I don’t know quite what happened but it is OK. I will have more chances.”
Here's a new one: EVERYONE in heat 3 of the 400 at World Indoors just got disqualified.
— Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) March 2, 2018
Casualties include world leader Bralon Taplin and reigning silver medalist Abdalelah Haroun.
Haroun DQ'd for false start, the other four for lane infringements. pic.twitter.com/IsoOJWXbj2
According to the BBC statistician Mark Butler, this was the first time in history that every athlete in a race has been disqualified.
That may be so at a world championships but it was not long before a previous incident was flagged on Twitter. Back in 1944, there was no officially recognised AAU 100-meter champion in the United States. Although Claude Young, the University of Illinois sprinter, won the race in 10.5 seconds, it was run as an exhibition after Young and the five other athletes in the final all false-started.
