The response times for the men’s 100-metre final at the World Track and Field Championships in 2023 showed a pretty typical variation, ranging from a rapid 0.105 seconds to a sluggish 0.188 seconds.
The regulation that caused Devon Allen’s untimely and contentious disqualification states that athletes must react in less than 0.1 seconds to avoid being disqualified. The average response time in this final was 0.47 seconds. Zarnel Hughes led the group with an almost flawless start, followed by Christian Coleman, Lipsili Tboho, and Noah Lyles, who finished in 0.1445 seconds.
The value of an early start
The 100-metre event’s reaction times, which are sometimes disregarded, have a big influence on results. The value of an early start is further demonstrated by comparison with the 2024 Racers Grand Prix in Kingston, Jamaica, where the field displayed an average reaction time of 0.157 seconds, which is slightly slower.
In an intriguing turn of events, Oblique Seville, the winner of the 2023 World Finals, and runner-up Noah Lyles both recorded remarkably sluggish reaction times (9.82 and 9.85 seconds, respectively). Lyles would have finished in 9.81 seconds and Seville in 9.79 seconds if they had responded at their usual rates.
Lyles’ consistent timings in prior races indicate that his typical reaction time is approximately 0.14 seconds. For Seville, the same holds true. Unexpectedly, Lyles had the slowest reaction of the day during the Racers Grand Prix—an interesting anomaly in competitive sprinting.
Noah was among the competitors who saw that the starting gun went off noticeably faster than it typically does. Specifically, Noah stated that the pistol went off practically as soon as it reached the predetermined location, severely impeding his reaction time and causing him to start slower than normal.
He said, “I thought the performance was good. I felt let down by the shooter. None of us were even set, really. To see that half of us weren’t even set when the gun went off is really disheartening. But the race was excellent all around. I ran exactly what I had planned to run when I came out here.”