Track and Field Competition Basics

Track and Field Competition Basics

Races shorter than ½ mile, including hurdles and relays
Prelims:
Runners are grouped into “heats” based on their best times
The heats will have up to 8 runners each (rarely, the heats may be 9 runners if the track has 9 lanes)
The slowest heats run first
Heats are run back-to-back until all runners have competed
The prelim heats are generally run earlier in the meet to allow the athletes time to “recover” before the “final”
Final:
A single heat - fastest 8 runners from the prelim races (or 9, if the track has 9 lanes)
Generally happens a few hours after the “prelims”
Alternative rules:
Sometimes there is not a “final”. In this case the “prelim” heats are actually the “finals” and the best times from those races determines the winner.

1600 and 3200 races
These races are run only as a single heat – with all runners competing together
The 3200 is frequently the first race of the day

Long Jump, Triple Jump, Discus, Shotput
Competitors are seeded based on best distances
The order of competition will start with the shortest distance and end with the longest
If there are many competitors, the athletes will be divided into flights (typically groups of 6 to 10)
Warm-ups:
All competitors have the opportunity to take practice jumps/throws during a general warm-up period at the beginning of the competition
After this, the warm-ups will be limited to just the athletes in the first flight
At the beginning of each subsequent flight, a short warm-up period will be provided for the competitors in the upcoming flight
Each competitor gets 3 attempts
The top 8 (based on the best of the three attempts) from the preliminary flights will advance to a final round, which immediately follows the prelims
The finalists make three additional attempts
The best distance from all 6 attempts is used to determine the winner.
In the event of a tie, the second best marks are used to break the tie.
Alternative rules:
Most commonly the advancement is for 8, but sometimes the number could be higher or lower. The number advancing to finals will be announced prior to the start of the meet.
Sometimes there is not a “final”. In this case the “prelim” flights are actually the “finals” and the best distances from those flights determines the winner. Frequently, if there is no final, the number of attempts will be increased to 4.

Pole Vault and High Jump
The starting bar height and the incremental increases are determined prior to the start of the meet.
The athletes get three attempts to clear each height. Once he clears a height, he will get three more attempts for the next height, regardless of how many attempts he used to clear the prior height.
Each athlete determines the height at which he wishes to “go in”. He will “pass” on heights lower than that, waiting until the pole is at his desired height to enter the competition.
Once athletes have declared that they wish to attempt the current height, the competitors will be seeded based on best marks.
Also, an athlete may enter the competition at a low height (for instance the starting height) and then “pass” on one or more heights before re-entering the competition.
Once the athlete has made a failed attempt at a given height, he may still pass to a new height, but he will have used up one of his attempts at that new height. Each athlete only gets three “consecutive” misses.
For each height attempted, if the athlete clears the bar on his 1st or 2nd attempt, he does not continue to jump at that height. He will “rest” until the bar is raised to the next height. He will get three more attempts at that new height.
Once all athletes have either cleared or missed all three attempts at a given height, the bar will be raised and a new round will begin with the remaining competitors.
The competition continues until the last competitor misses three consecutive attempts.
If two or more competitors have finished with the same height, the winner is the athlete with the fewest misses at that final height. If the tied athletes have the same number of misses at the last height cleared, the tie is broken by the total number of misses in the competition.