Sprint records at Islamic Solidarity Games nullified by timing glitch

Celebrations of record performances at the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey, came to an abrupt halt when stakeholders received letters about invalid times.

Organizers of Konya 2021 blamed a “technical failure on the cabling of the starting system” at the newly-built Konya Athletics Field.

“In the first three days of competition, especially in the short distance races, we experienced several very good results,” said the Aug. 12 letter from the technical delegates, Samuel Lopes and Thomas Eckel.

They recommended to World Athletics the results “are invalid and cannot be used for world ranking/global top lists or any kind of record.” However, the standings and medal tables remain the same.

Arthur Cisse’s 9.89 in the 100 meters on Aug. 9 appeared to be an Ivory Coast national record, but now will not be ratified.

Like all record-setters, after the race Cisse posed next to a scoreboard showing his time, although the set-up was not as sophisticated as it is at other championship meets. “I am not finished, my coach always tells me after finishing a race, ‘You are not done, there is more to go, no dancing and no football until we finish this competition,’ which makes me stay focused and dedicated until the very end,” Cisse told the International Sports Press Association (AIPS).

The 25-year-old need not despair too much about losing the record. He already holds the national record of 9.93 set in 2019 in Leverkusen, Germany.

He reached the semifinals at the World Championships last month in Oregon with a time of 10.16.

The Pakistan Olympic Association tweeted about sprinter Shajar Abbas creating a new national record in the 200 meters on Aug. 10 with a time of 20.68 seconds in the heats. “What a sprinter this young man,” said the tweet. His personal best remains a national record of 20.87 from June in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Other affected times: Yaqoub Al-Youha of Kuwait clocked 13.36 in the 110-meter hurdles on Aug. 9; Bassem Hemeida of Qatar ran 48.67 in the 400-meter hurdles on Aug. 9, Edidiong Odiong of Bahrain posted a time of 11.03 in the women’s 100 meters on Aug. 9 and Sevval Ayaz of Turkey finished in 13.15 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles on Aug. 10.

The technical delegates said they checked all standard procedures regarding the photo-finish and the start information system before and during each competition day, but additional tests of the timing system were conducted after the third session.

That revealed the unfortunate cabling issue. “Considering all the evidence, and after conferring with national and international experts, we concluded that it was not possible to confirm the full accuracy of the results of the races for all the first three competition days,” the letter said.

A new technical set-up was put in place to bypass the failure and the technical delegates confirmed the accuracy of results for Days 4 and 5.

According to AIPS, further testing should have been conducted at the facility, but that was prevented by the short time span between the opening of the new athletics field and the start of competition.

Other fast times were already ineligible for records due to wind. Cisse clocked 9.78 with a 4.0 meters per second tailwind in the heats, which is twice the allowable limit.

More than 4,200 athletes from 56 countries are competing in 19 sports at the Islamic Solidarity Games. Although they were postponed from 2021, they retain that branding. The Games conclude Thursday.