Adding 200m as discipline to the rulebook
This discussion has an associated proposal. View Proposal Details here.Comments about this discussion:
Started
I know this issue was brought up at the last rulebook update and the vote on it rejected the proposal (Agree: 5, Disagree: 3). But I would like to raise the issue again, because last time there was no real discussion about it and I do not understand what argues against the inclusion of this discipline in the rulebook.
For many years the IUF has been publishing a world record over 200m on its website, without having it in the IUF World Record Guidelines. The IUF World Record Committee has decided to integrate the 200m into the official IUF World Record Guidelines, but also wants to achieve a stronger link between the World Record Guidelines and the Rulebook, meaning that world records should be achived in offical IUF disciplines. Therefore the 200m should also be included in the rulebook as a official discipline. Of couse this means not that the 200m should be a required discipline to be offered at a Unicon.
We should also keep in mind that the IUF rules are not only written for the Unicon, but also for all the other competitions where they are used. And this includes e.g. one-day competitions where it might not be possible to offer 400m and 800m because of the time. The 200m would be a discipline that can be a suitable addition to the competition program for this events. In Germany there are a lot of competitions where 200m races have been organized and I can tell you that many German competition organizers and athletes would be very happy if the 200m were also an official IUF discipline and thus included in the rulebook.
The rule should be as followed:
2B.6.X 200m Race
The 200m race is started with a stagger start, where riders are started in separate lanes, at separate locations. In the 200m race, riders must stay in their lane.
Comment
I agree with including 200m as an official discipline, but at the same time as a non-required discipline. I think we should make this explicit.
I can't find in the Rulebook where we say which track racing disciplines are required at Unicons. I know we do list that for road races, it's probably good to do that for track races as well. Or have I missed something? I realise this is slightly beside the point of this discussion though.
Comment
If I remember correctly, the 200m race was removed due to its similarity to the 100m. Results between those two events were often very similar, with the same riders doing well in both. In my experience, the approach to the 200m was about the same; sprint as hard as you can for the whole distance. The only difference for me in the 200 was to dial back the speed slightly. By contrast, the 400m requires a different strategy for success, and the 800 different again. So the 200m was basically removed to save time for other events/disciplines in the Unicon schedule.
I agree with Klaas about listing it, but not requiring it. Klaas also brings up the question of whether *any* of those Track events are required at the Unicon level. We might want to specify something there if it isn't already found somewhere in the Rulebook.
Comment
The required events at Unicon were moved to section 1C.2 with the last rulebook update - therefore we deleted the section in chapter 2.
Comment
Great. So if we add 200m in the Track chapter and not change 1C.2, it is automatically non-required.
Comment
Then we three agree that we would add the 200m to the Rulebook as a discipline not mandatory at Unicon - which would be a given with the current rule proposal.
What about the others in the committee?
Comment
It looks like there are no comments from the other committee members on this issue - so I will create a proposal later.
Comment
The review time of the proposal is over and since there were no further comments or suggestions for improvement, I assume that all committee members agree with the proposal.
I will now open the voting and hope that all voting members of the committee will also participate in the voting.