Athletics The strict rule changes: Topi Raitanen was the last victim in the Kaleva Games

Topi Raitanen fell victim to a strict breach of the rules at the end of August at Ratina Stadium in Tampere.

In the men’s 3,000-meter hurdles, Raitanen stepped on the water obstacle over the adjacent track in the first round and was abandoned. Raitanen sought support for his leg so that he would not have come into contact with another runner.

The rejection was in accordance with the rules, and the judges had no choice but to be an expert in the rules of athletics Pasi Oksanen justified to HS.

Read more: The expert wonders about Topi Raitanen’s rejection at the Kaleva Games: “At this point, the rule is a little too strict”

In the future, a similar situation will no longer lead to automatic rejection. An addition has been made to the definition of lane failure, in which the previous zero tolerance has been changed in a more permissive direction.

A track offense does not result in disqualification if, in sports running on own tracks, the Athlete once touches the left track line or track edge or other marking line of his track.

The same applies to runs in which one or all of the distance is not run on one’s own tracks, and the Athlete touches or steps more than once on a track line or curb or other track marking line.

“In both cases, the Athlete should not receive any additional benefit from his or her track offense, nor cause interference or push to other Athletes. If this happens, the athlete must be dismissed, ”Oksanen interprets the change in the rules.

If a race event is run more than once, such as the preliminary rounds and semi-finals, the track break can only occur once in each event. If another similar foul occurs on different rounds of the same species, it will result in rejection.

Similarly, in posts, the team’s second track break made by any athlete on the team at any stage of the competition will result in the team being disqualified.

The new rule entry requires the competition organizers to monitor and record violations in the sport’s protocol. This ensures that the violations that took place in the previous stages are clearly known in all subsequent stages of the sport, Oksanen determines on the website of the Finnish Sports Confederation.

The change in the rule of denial has been considered for a long time. Oksanen has also considered the old rule too strict.

The change, confirmed by the International Federation of Athletics (WA), will take effect from the beginning of the 2022 season.

In Finnish one significant rule change concerns the assimilation of government results to external track results.

Hall results can be interpreted as outdoor track results if the orbital track is at least 201.2 m (220 yards) but shorter than 400 meters.

There are many halls over 200 meters in Finland. In addition to circulating runs, for example, running 100 meters in some halls is possible.

“In the past, these results could not be considered as official government results, but now the results are equated to outdoor track results,” Oksanen points out.

The rule can be important when Finnish sprinters try to break the summer 2022 European Championship limits already in the winter in the hall.

“The competition venue must meet the requirements of the rules. If a temporary competition venue is used, it must be officially measured and a measurement report has been made as proof, ”the rules say.

International the Athletics Federation (WA) is also updating the rules for length and triple jump, which were supposed to take effect already at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. However, due to the pandemic, the change in the rules was postponed, as were the Olympics.

In the future, overspending can be detected with video or similar technology. In this case, traditional wax plank is not required. There is a trace of the jumper’s spike on the wax board.

Instead of a wax board, a cover plate or the like can be used, which must be distinctive in color, not white.