Categories
World Athletics false-start threshold
A certified start system treats a reaction shorter than 0.100 second as a possible false start. Three editions of the technical rules print that threshold.
Reaction time
0.10s
World Athletics Technical Rule 16.6. A reaction shorter than 0.100 second triggers the false-start signal when a certified Start Information System is in use. This is a rule, not one athlete's reaction.
Mechanism
Why it's so fast
The false-start threshold is a rule about reaction time, not a running speed. Sound, a decision and a muscle take time. A movement that begins before that chain can finish is treated as a guess.
A chain of delays
The gun has to reach the ear, the nervous system has to commit, and the legs have to push. The rule draws a line where a recorded reaction is too short to be that chain.
The system, not one athlete
When a certified start system is in use, the rule says what it flags. The row is that threshold. It is not a particular sprinter's best start, and it is not a blink timed in a lab.
Why it is on a speed site
It is the fastest a legal human response is allowed to be at the start of a race. Faster than the line is not a better athlete. It is a false start.
The race that uses the rule is Usain Bolt's 100 metres.
Provenance
Every measurement
Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.
- 0.10sRanked figure
World Athletics Technical Rule 16.6. A reaction shorter than 0.100 second triggers the false-start signal when a certified Start Information System is in use. This is a rule, not one athlete's reaction.
Official
Reference
Specs
- Body
- World Athletics
- Rule
- 16.6
- Threshold
- 0.100 second
- Scope
- Certified Start Information System
Context
Background
World Athletics Technical Rule 16.6 says that when a certified Start Information System is in use, the starter hears an acoustic signal if the reaction time is less than 0.100 second. Two earlier editions of the same rule print that sentence. The stored value is 100 milliseconds, which is 0.100 second. The qualifier is official because the rule is the authority.
The row is the threshold the rules use, not a sprinter's measured start. A blink lasts a range of times, and a nerve-conduction speed is metres per second, so neither is ranked on this duration list. Individual start reactions from one results sheet were not reprinted athlete by athlete in two other accounts, so they are not rows.
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