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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

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
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