The Continental Cup held this year in Ostrava was the occasion for the IAAF to try new things.
The Continental Cup is the successor of the World Cup which was initially introduced (in 1977) as a substitute for World Championship, which were lacking at the time. The World Cup continued till 2006 initially with two year periodicity and, when the world Championships in Athletics were introduced in 1983; with a four year one, but with a 3 then 2 year leaps from 1989 to 1992 and 1994. In 2010 the Continental Cup was introduced with a 4-year periodicity. So this year's event is the third Continental Cup in athletics' history.
Since it is an event where there is a final classification by points it was the perfect testing ground for innovation.
I will not delve on the "joker" thing. (Team captains have two jokers to put on one male and one female athlete on each day of the competition. If that nominated athlete wins, the team will gain a double number of points). It has nothing to do with the competition itself and it is more like a gambling thing introduced in order to make the event look more like a game on television. (I dislike this kind of things).
The interesting things start with "horizontal" events, i.e. long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus throws, hammer throw and javelin throw. Every athlete has three attempts. Only the best representative from each continent will go on for a fourth effort. Depending on the fourth attempt result, only the two best athletes will make a fifth (and final) attempt, which will decide the overall winner.
This is not a bad way of staging the event. One can have the longest jump from your first attempt and still not make it to the final two. A foul on the last attempt is fatal. (How about if both finalists foul out? I haven't seen any rule on this point. Still it may very well happen).
Where I hind that the new rules are particularly timid it's in horizontal jumps. We have now a very efficient way of measuring the real length of a jump i.e. from the point the foot of the athlete leaves the ground. Why not measure the length of the jump from this point? One day such a rule must come into effect and it's better if some experimentation has been carried out in the Continental Cup context.
The elimination races in the 3 km races is also an interesting idea. All 8 competitors run the first 1400 m together. After that, the last runner through each lap will be eliminated and thus only four runners will reach the last lap. The only thing that I did not like was the judge showing a red card to the athlete to be eliminated. Couldn't there be a more efficient system, like a panel next to the track with the name of the athlete who is out, together with a speaker announcement? I find the card thing a trifle archaic.
I was very glad to see the mixed relay. I a previous post of mine I have been wondering why this kind of relay has not entered the major competitions yet. Now I am reassured. And, as always, the team tactics are particularly interesting. I just hope that the various teams continue to experiment with different tactics and we do not reach a situation where all teams have the same alternation of men and women runners, in which case the mixed race will become a dull thing.
Where I found that the IAAF lacked imagination was in the vertical jumps. They were classical competitions and a missed occasion for innovation. One thing that they could have tried is a fixed number of attempts. Say, every athlete starts the competition with 6 possible attempts (and, of course, three misses at a given height means the athlete is out). To stay in the spirit of the Continental Cup, once two athletes are ahead of the competition in terms of height reached they are given three more attempts to use as they like. When one wishes to be innovating one must be bold. Lukewarm innovation can be worse than no innovation at all.
The Continental Cup is the successor of the World Cup which was initially introduced (in 1977) as a substitute for World Championship, which were lacking at the time. The World Cup continued till 2006 initially with two year periodicity and, when the world Championships in Athletics were introduced in 1983; with a four year one, but with a 3 then 2 year leaps from 1989 to 1992 and 1994. In 2010 the Continental Cup was introduced with a 4-year periodicity. So this year's event is the third Continental Cup in athletics' history.
Since it is an event where there is a final classification by points it was the perfect testing ground for innovation.
I will not delve on the "joker" thing. (Team captains have two jokers to put on one male and one female athlete on each day of the competition. If that nominated athlete wins, the team will gain a double number of points). It has nothing to do with the competition itself and it is more like a gambling thing introduced in order to make the event look more like a game on television. (I dislike this kind of things).
The interesting things start with "horizontal" events, i.e. long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus throws, hammer throw and javelin throw. Every athlete has three attempts. Only the best representative from each continent will go on for a fourth effort. Depending on the fourth attempt result, only the two best athletes will make a fifth (and final) attempt, which will decide the overall winner.
This is not a bad way of staging the event. One can have the longest jump from your first attempt and still not make it to the final two. A foul on the last attempt is fatal. (How about if both finalists foul out? I haven't seen any rule on this point. Still it may very well happen).
C. Ibargüen was the queen of the Cup with two victories in long and triple jump
The elimination races in the 3 km races is also an interesting idea. All 8 competitors run the first 1400 m together. After that, the last runner through each lap will be eliminated and thus only four runners will reach the last lap. The only thing that I did not like was the judge showing a red card to the athlete to be eliminated. Couldn't there be a more efficient system, like a panel next to the track with the name of the athlete who is out, together with a speaker announcement? I find the card thing a trifle archaic.
I was very glad to see the mixed relay. I a previous post of mine I have been wondering why this kind of relay has not entered the major competitions yet. Now I am reassured. And, as always, the team tactics are particularly interesting. I just hope that the various teams continue to experiment with different tactics and we do not reach a situation where all teams have the same alternation of men and women runners, in which case the mixed race will become a dull thing.
Where I found that the IAAF lacked imagination was in the vertical jumps. They were classical competitions and a missed occasion for innovation. One thing that they could have tried is a fixed number of attempts. Say, every athlete starts the competition with 6 possible attempts (and, of course, three misses at a given height means the athlete is out). To stay in the spirit of the Continental Cup, once two athletes are ahead of the competition in terms of height reached they are given three more attempts to use as they like. When one wishes to be innovating one must be bold. Lukewarm innovation can be worse than no innovation at all.
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