Devon Allen disqualified for false start

Posted by Charean Williams on July 17, 2022, 10:58 PM EDT
World Athletics Championships Oregon22 - Day Three
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Eagles receiver Devon Allen did not get a chance to compete in the World Athletics Championship final on Sunday night. The fastest man in the world in the 110-meter hurdles this year was disqualified for a false start.

His reaction time was .001 faster than the .1 second threshold, meaning he false started, according to the computer.

Allen pled his case to officials to no avail. Instead, he had to watch on TV as fellow American Grant Holloway defended his World Championship gold medal in the event from 2019. Holloway ran a 13.03 with American Trey Cunningham finishing second in 13.08.

Only Allen’s DQ prevented a likely 1-2-3 sweep for Team USA after Olympic champion Hansle Parchment of Jamaica was injured while warming up for the final.

Allen, who ran a 13.09 in the semifinal earlier in the day, now can turn his focus to football. He last played college football at Oregon from 2014-16 going undrafted in 2017. The Eagles are his first shot at an NFL roster spot, having caught the team’s attention with a 4.35-second 40-yard dash.

In three seasons with Oregon, Allen caught 54 passes for 919 yards and eight touchdowns.

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25 responses to “Devon Allen disqualified for false start”

  1. It was bullsjeet. I couldn’t tell anyone false started. Same with the Bahamas lady. I guess they have to retroactively go back to 80s and 90s, DQ half the 100 field.

  2. Bummer, too bad track isn’t officiated by NFL referees. They would have certainly missed the call. He could have gotten a legitimate head start with NFL officials.

  3. So let’s get this straight – he didn’t start until after the gun sounded, but he started really fast after that, and for this reason, he was disqualified. Wanna bet the World Athletics Championships take a big hit because of this nonsense?

  4. Ran Track in High School and College…

    Still to this day, some 30 years later I remember young athletes weeping with their fathers in the men’s room because they false started and their night was over.

    With out question… the most heartless, unforgiving unfair rule in any sport.

  5. Could he potentially retire from the nfl and focus completely on track now? Everyone works so hard to get the peak of the sport, DQ after 1 false start sucks, they used to allow one false start.

  7. He needs to fix that or he’s going to be the cause of lots of penalties in the NFL.

  9. Allen DID get a chance to compete, getting a good start without breaking the rules is part of the competition. The rule is that a .1 second edge is the fastest scientific human reaction to the gun sound without anticipating and literally jumping the gun. Jumping the gun is considered cheating, thus the DQ. Part of the sport.

  11. That DQ was ridiculous. It didn’t look like anyone false started, but if someone did it was to the right of him. He handled it very well.

  12. Sorry, you’re too fast, next time have a slower reaction to the gun. How stupid.

  13. He really was punished for being too fast. You can’t make this stuff up. And with all the corruption in Olympic sports you know have people saying this was a robbery to prevent a 1-2-3 sweep, and the DQ is so ridiculous that they’re just going to have to live with that conspiracy.

  17. Wow….0.001 faster than the 0.10 allowable….pretty crazy that there’s no possible variance allowed…perhaps he’s just faster at reacting than all the others….sheesh

  18. So a computer figured out he was .001 seconds too quick and the NFL still measures 1st downs with a physical chain? Alrighty then…

  19. Gettin’ a little “edge” on the competiton, eh? Are we sure he’s an Eagle and not a Patriot?

  21. It’s not complicated. The rules are there to keep competitors from anticipating the gun and getting a jump on the competition. The .1sec rule is there because it is humanly impossible to react faster than that, thus the false start. It’s a very fine line and it may be a bit ticky tacky, but the intent of the race is to find the fastest competitor.

  22. Allen started AFTER the starting gun went off,but the officials say it was too soon after. That.1 second rule needs to be changed.. Allen can,obviously, move quicker than.1 second.

  23. Look the rule is really simple. A reaction time faster than 0.1 seconds is a false start, under the theory you can’t physically react that fast. At high level meets they have pressure sensors on the blocks to measure this. Studies have been done that show that “theoretically” a human can react faster, but realistically most elite athletes in testing don’t.

  25. Allen must be heartbroken, but the Eagles must be thrilled to get a guy that can get off of the line less than .1 second after the snap.

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