Women’s 100 runoff likely
EUGENE, Ore. — The dead heat for third place in the women’s 100 meters between veteran U.S. track star Allyson Felix and her relatively unknown training partner, Jeneba Tarmoh, will likely be determined by a runoff before the end of the Olympic trials next Sunday.
The dead heat Saturday night caused chaos because the top three in the final earn Olympic berths.
A dead heat for an Olympic berth had never happened at the trials before, and USA Track and Field had no provision in place to break the tie.
In meetings Sunday, officials from USATF and the U.S. Olympic Committee came up with criteria to decide dead heats.
1. If either athlete declines her position on the Olympic team, she will be an alternate and the other one gets the spot.
2. If neither gives up the position, it will be decided by a runoff or a coin flip. If either athlete demands a runoff, that’s what the decider will be. The only way it would go to a coin flip is if they both agree to a coin flip or if they both declare no preference.
USATF spokeswoman Jill Geer said officials would consult with the athletes and their coaches in determining a schedule for a runoff but that it must be held before the meet ends Sunday.
In this case, there is just one coach: Bobby Kersee. Felix and Tarmoh are entered in the 200, which starts Thursday and ends Saturday.
Kersee said he didn’t want them to be bothered with a runoff before the 200.
Felix, a two-time Olympic silver medalist at 200, went through the interview area in tears Saturday night, thinking she had missed an Olympic berth by one-thousandth of a second. “I don’t know what happened,” she said. “It just didn’t come together for me.”
If the runoff also results in a dead heat, the tie will be broken by a coin toss.
Other events:
There were three very significant times in the men’s 400 Sunday.
LaShawn Merritt: 44.12 seconds. Bryshon Nellum: 44.80. Jeremy Wariner: 45.24. All three were significant stories. Merritt’s time was the best in the world this year and puts him in position to defend his 2008 Olympic title.
Wariner’s time, good for sixth place in the final, might have signaled the end of a career that included an Olympic gold in 2004 and silver in 2008.
And Nellum’s time, good for third and a spot on the Olympic team, was “the headline of the whole event,” said his University of Southern California teammate Josh Mance, who finished fourth. Nellum was told he’d probably never regain top form after he was shot three times in his legs in 2008, reportedly by gangsters who mistook him for a rival gang member.
Sanya Richards-Ross, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, blazed to a 49.28 to win the women’s 400. Like Merritt’s time, it was the fastest in the world this year. Dee Dee Trotter and Francena McCorory also made the team.