Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s dive in the 1500m event has come out to be one of the most debated points from today’s Oslo Diamond League. In the Bislett Stadion, the Tokyo Olympic champion resorted to a dive to remain 0.03 seconds ahead of the nearest opponent, Timothy Cheruiyot. As per the debaters, if the Norwegian sprinter had remained on his feet while crossing the finishing line the result could have gone on anyone’s side. However, as per the ultimate result, Jakob Ingebrigtsen has grabbed the top podium. With that, he has also become the current world leader in the event. But the debate is not going to stop as it has an uncanny similarity to what once happened to Allyson Felix. 

At that time several questions had been asked as well. But to everyone’s disbelief, the reality remained otherwise. 

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Allyson Felix- two champions in different era

As per the report published by Vox in 2016, Allyson Felix would have been declared the 2016 Olympic winner if there had been penalties on the dives in the track and field. The report shows that Allyson Felix was upright ahead of her opponent Shaunae Miller-Uibo in the last lap in the 400m event in Rio. But Miller had deployed a ploy to dive before the finishing line. Such a dive moved her ahead of Felix by 0.07 seconds in that 400m event. Furthermore, she was declared the winner while Allyson Felix had to bow her head to get the silver medal. But the duo hadn’t been the only one to get such a neck-to-neck and tried a dive. 

In the same year, the Brazilian huddler Joao Vitor de Oliveira tried the same technique and reaped his success. The Brazilian sprinter had wanted to enter the semifinal in the 110m hurdle event preliminary heats. Ultimately, his dive landed him on the other side with the necessary edge. But is there any legal justification for it? 

In both cases of Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Alison Felix, the legality holds a clear field, giving the winners an edge over the opponents. The athletic rules and regulations do not talk about the particular incident. Rather a successful outcome has gained the eligibility to be the ultimate factor in deciding the winners. 

The rules that make the move steady 

As per NBC’s experimentation with the truth, any athlete can grab the winner’s podium if his or her torso leaps over the finishing line. “The first athlete whose torso (as distinguished from the head, neck, arms, legs, hands or feet) reaches the vertical plane of the closest edge of the finish line is the winner,” is the actual statement. In every case including Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Allyson Felix’s, the winners dived to get the torsos over the final lining before anyone else. 

That move has worked every time, without a debate. The reason is that the dive shaves the split second because of the faster opening. But after throwing the body in the air, soon the deceleration hits the effect. Therefore a periodic loss is expected in the speed. So, the athletes would have to learn aptly to attempt a timely dive. Jakob Ingebrigtsen has seemed to master it. That’s the reason, he could maintain his invincible status in front of his home crowd today.