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Not sure if you are being satirical, but yes that's the point. The entire point of qualifiers in most sports is to reward better participants - otherwise they

Not sure if you are being satirical, but yes that's the point. The entire point of qualifiers in most sports is to reward better participants - otherwise they would have incentive to sandbag their performance or perform other shenanigans for preferential matchups.

anigbrowl 2y ago
You get rewarded by qualifying. If you perform better in the heat that doesn't mean you should get an advantage in the race. Random allocation would be better.
- DiggyJohnson 2y ago
  > should Why do you believe this should be the case? Keep in mind the majority opinion of most forms of racing and other competitions is to reward competitors for their qualifying or heat performances by assigning the most valuable starting positions to the top qualifiers. This is generally considered more fair than randomizing the final’s lane assignment (or grid order, etc) because it reduces the chance of BS in the finals itself and avoids perverse incentives in the qualification rounds.
  - anigbrowl 2y ago
    I get it with motor racing like F1 because of the linear nature of the track, plus during the qualification laps they have a clear track and are not jockeying for position. My reservation with swimming is that if you were randomly assigned to a middle or side lane in the qualification stages, your advantage or disadvantage is compounded as the competition proceeds. It's not clear to me how lane assignments are conducted for heats; perhaps they use a seeding system. https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/swimming-101-olympic-competition-format https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/swimming-101-olympic-compet...
    - eru 2y ago
      The system isn't there to be fair, it's there to be entertaining. If you wanted a fair system, there would be no qualifiers and no simultaneous racing. You would just have everyone compete at home and mail in times whenever they have a new record. Like eg speedrunning for computer games is done today, or like any world records for fastest time are done.
    - rascul 2y ago
      > I get it with motor racing like F1 because of the linear nature of the track, plus during the qualification laps they have a clear track and are not jockeying for position. Track conditions can change throughout qualifying so that the later qualifiers might have a slightly faster or slower track.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
- spoonjim 2y ago
  You already get rewarded for better performance in the heat by being allowed to participate in the race!
  - anigbrowl 2y ago
    Yes...that's what I'm saying.

anigbrowl 2y ago

You get rewarded by qualifying. If you perform better in the heat that doesn't mean you should get an advantage in the race. Random allocation would be better.

DiggyJohnson 2y ago
> should Why do you believe this should be the case? Keep in mind the majority opinion of most forms of racing and other competitions is to reward competitors for their qualifying or heat performances by assigning the most valuable starting positions to the top qualifiers. This is generally considered more fair than randomizing the final’s lane assignment (or grid order, etc) because it reduces the chance of BS in the finals itself and avoids perverse incentives in the qualification rounds.
- anigbrowl 2y ago
  I get it with motor racing like F1 because of the linear nature of the track, plus during the qualification laps they have a clear track and are not jockeying for position. My reservation with swimming is that if you were randomly assigned to a middle or side lane in the qualification stages, your advantage or disadvantage is compounded as the competition proceeds. It's not clear to me how lane assignments are conducted for heats; perhaps they use a seeding system. https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/swimming-101-olympic-competition-format https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/swimming-101-olympic-compet...
  - eru 2y ago
    The system isn't there to be fair, it's there to be entertaining. If you wanted a fair system, there would be no qualifiers and no simultaneous racing. You would just have everyone compete at home and mail in times whenever they have a new record. Like eg speedrunning for computer games is done today, or like any world records for fastest time are done.
  - rascul 2y ago
    > I get it with motor racing like F1 because of the linear nature of the track, plus during the qualification laps they have a clear track and are not jockeying for position. Track conditions can change throughout qualifying so that the later qualifiers might have a slightly faster or slower track.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
spoonjim 2y ago
You already get rewarded for better performance in the heat by being allowed to participate in the race!
- anigbrowl 2y ago
  Yes...that's what I'm saying.