Yank hurt when Lyon starter skips ‘Set’ command in hep hurdles

Rita Hanscom soared 4-6 in hep high jump at Lyon. Photos by Rob Jerome

Rita Hanscom of San Diego soared 4-6 in heptathlon high jump at Lyon. Photos by Rob Jerome

At Stade Laurent Gerin on Day 1 of Lyon worlds, the heptathlon was haunted by bad organization and officiating. Masters mole 45553(2)e reports: “The day was supposed to start with W75+ at 9 a.m., but for some reason, the starting time got pushed back to 10. Unsure why because there were scores of officials and volunteers there and the athletes were ready to go. Flo Meiler and Christel Donley were up first with the heptathlon hurdles. The official yelled ‘Ready!’ and then fired the gun. No ‘Set’ between ‘Ready’ and the gun. This threw both Flo and Christel off, and Christel took a nasty fall over a hurdle (hurting a rib), but got up and finished the race along with Flo. There was some discussion with officials of rerunning the race, but it was decided to forgo a rerun and Flo and Christel went on to the high jump.” Meanwhile, Rita Hanscom leads the W60 heptathlon, especially pleased with her 1.37 (4-6) in the high jump. Lyon2015.com had a banner crawl that said: “The organization informs us that the competition schedule of Tuesday, August 4 slightly modified.” Oy vey. Hope nobody missed their event!

Christel Donley (left) and Flo Meiler battle in hep 80 hurdles, which Christel won (despite fall).

Christel Donley (left) and Flo Meiler battle in hep hurdles, won by W80 Flo.

Meanwhile, Alex Rotas of UK reports more dysfunction via Facebook:

It’s not been without its incidents here in Lyon at the World Champs though. And don’t imagine that nice old ladies in the 70-85 year old age groups aren’t going to kick up a fuss if they’re not satisfied with some aspect of the officiating. In the high jump competition of the heptathlon today, they – collectively – didn’t trust the measuring of the bar – actually they didn’t even trust the measuring stick that was being used to measure the bar. So they did some double-checking of their own. The official did a bit of eye-rolling, but she let them get on with it. And they actually had good reason to want to check…

Such a scrum at a USATF nationals (with athletes challenging the measuring) would be unthinkable!

Alex Rotas caught this amazing moment at Lyon worlds. What a hoot!

Alex Rotas caught this amazing moment at Lyon worlds. What a hoot!

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August 4, 2015

2 Responses

  1. Tom Phillips - August 4, 2015

    Not at all typical of the day. I covered the heptathlon events for the younger age groups at the Leboeuf Stadium today, and thought it was a model of efficient, effective meet management. Oh, with some pretty good sport thrown in too!

  2. Anonymous - August 4, 2015

    Good to hear Tom, but small comfort for the older ladies.

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