VIDEO: Wild finish in the 3K at McGill Team Challenge
A DQ and two falls in the men's 3K at the McGill Team Challenge in Montreal on Friday as the two then-race leaders get tied up
One of the heats of the men’s 3,000m at the McGill Team Challenge ended in bizarre fashion.
As the two leaders – Toronto’s Sam Kinahan and Dalhousie’s Graeme Wach – of section three approached the final 50m, Wach drifts into lane two, then into lane three, of the indoor 200m track. Wach, in the black singlet, is the first to go down, followed by Kinahan, in a blue top. To avoid falling himself, the then-third place runner, Santiago Bessai, steps on the inside of the track. A fourth runner, who was a lap behind, also avoided falling.
Video
When Wach gets up, he puts both of his hands on Kinahan’s back and continues. Kinahan would finish fourth in 8:54.47, with his 15th and final lap his slowest. The camera turns away moments after the runners cross the finish line and it’s unclear if there was any sort of altercation afterwards.
Wach was disqualified, according to results, with rule 163.2 b cited. According to the IAAF rule book, 163.2 b notes that “if another athlete is found by the Referee to be responsible for the jostling or obstruction, such athlete (or his team) shall be liable to disqualification from that event.”
McGill’s Bessai (in red) overtook the two then-leaders and won the heat in 8:48.22. As the involved athletes cross the finish line, video shows Kinahan protesting to the on-track officials about the collision.
The 23rd annual McGill Team Challenge is the largest indoor track and field event in Canada, according to the McGill Athletics Department. The second session of the two-day event continues Saturday.
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