Thank you to all the athletes, officials, administrators, family and friends who made this event really special for the participants. Athletes, with the help of officials, coaches, family and friends, sometimes needed to be very creative while adapting to challenges so they could compete. Athletes found clear roads to sprint on, open fields to throw in and at least one even triple jumped on a tennis court (ouch 🤪)! Other athletes were fortunate enough to compete on a track, jumping or throwing facility and sometimes in an organized and officiated meet. Regardless of how you competed, there is a place for you.
Honoring WMA Championship – Toronto2020
This Challenge was created in May of 2021 to give athletes a goal and to honor the cancelled WMA Championships scheduled in Toronto from 20 July through 1 August. Rules for and events contested in this Challenge are mirror much of the rules and events at Toronto2020. The dates were also selected to honor Toronto2020 with a couple of days added to include three full weekends for competitions. Only one performance per event was allowed because athletes would only be able to compete in one final in Toronto.
Categories
Some of you wanted the ability to compare similarly contested performances. Results for this Challenge are grouped into Categories so you can compare competitors however you want.
- Category A – Pre-organized competitions run by organizations at an athletics facility like a track, designated jumping / throwing field or arena or gym with all applicable WMA rules being followed.
- Category B – Officiated competitions at an athletics facility. As described above, officials can be friends or fellow competitors timing, marking, measuring and calling fouls.
- Category C – Road, parking lot, field or wherever else the athlete can compete safely
Of course, it would be great if we could compete together under the same conditions with those wonderful volunteers. Unfortunately, that is not possible so you have to help make sure your performances are fairly compared. Essentially, the Categories are based on result accuracy guarantee (see below).
- Category A (Very Accurate) – Much like a performance at a WMA Championship where officials, tracks would be certified, timing equipment calibrated, jumping pits leveled, throwing sectors laid out by knowledgeable people and all performances timed or measured by capable officials. Only fully officiated (more than one certified official) performances should be included in this Category
- Category B (Accurate) – The major possible difference between this and Category A is the track or competition area and training and certification of people overseeing the competition. The people officiating the competition may not be able to fully monitor the competition and might not know all the applicable rules. Therefore, competitions without the certified facilities and officials might not be as accurate as Category A performances.
- Category C (Accuracy Varies) – There are many differences running 400m on a road. The road is probably not precisely level and measuring 400m is cumbersome. Similarly, creative ways athletes find to compete are different conditions than Category A which affect the potential accuracy of the performance time or measurement.
Policies and Clarifications
A goal for this Challenge, for many reasons, was to keep things simple, intuitive forms and request minimal information. Preliminary results were visible and comments / corrections were solicited for two weeks. The Challenge team reviewed performances and confirmed Category A compliance. Adjustments were made where appropriate. A few athletes did not respond to multiple requests for clarification so their Categories were changed to B. These results are now final – no further changes will be made.
- Category A 100m, 200m and Sprint Hurdles – must be FAT (Fully Automated Timing where all timing equipment, including starter, are connected electronically);
- Category B and C 100m, 200m and Sprint Hurdles – are adjusted to the higher tenth of a second and no option to compare with Category A.
- 400m and Long Hurdles Times – Category A performances should be comparable so non-FAT, 400m times are adjusted by the IAAF factor for sprints (0.24 seconds). For consistency, since there is an option to compare all performances, all non-FAT performances are adjusted.
- Time Formats – FAT times include hundredths of a second. Non-FAT include tenths of second and have an “h” as a placeholder in the hundredths place. Non-FAT times are not accurate enough to warrant hundredths of a second precision.
- Combined Events scores for non-FAT 100m, 200m, 400m and Sprint Hurdles – based on IAAF Combined Events adjusted times