Devon Allen’s False Start Is Hanging Over All Of Athletics.

You can never escape drama as an Athletics/Track & Field fan — anyone calling the sport dull is simply not paying attention — but this latest round of drama around Devon Allen’s 110H start should have been completely avoidable. The year is 2022, and we’re still letting arbitrary standards affect how we award championship medals.

What Happened?

The 110H Final should have been one of the marquee events of this year’s World Championships in Eugene. The 3 Americans in the final were all favorites to medal, with Devon Allen calling this, “a homecoming” before trying out for the Philadelphia Eagles later this summer. It should have been one of those storybook moments, but our sport’s antiquated red tape marred the final with another tale of ‘what could have been’.

More on that later, let’s check in on the race first.

Devon Allen had recently upset World Record Holder Grant Holloway by running the 3rd fastest time in history, both were determined to walk away with a gold medal around their neck while American Trey Cunningham looked to find his way onto the podium as well if he could beat out another Olympic Champion, World Medalist and potential favorite in Jamaican Hansle Parchment. This should have been a truly monumental race.

As the anticipation built throughout the lead up, the 3 Americans took up their place on the starting line as a packed Eugene waited on the edge of their seats for the gun.