There was a surprising success for Ireland at the Olympics on Saturday evening, as Cathal Doyle progressed to the semi-finals of the 1500m via the repechage round.
Doyle failed to qualify for the semi-finals through his first-round race but was given a second chance with the newly introduced repechage format.
The repechage sees all the eliminated runners from the first round race off again, with the three fastest runners in each heat progressing to the semi-finals. It is effectively a "second chance" round which ensures every runner will have at least two races.
It was introduced by the IOC for these Olympics at every distance bar the 100m and 3,000m steeplechase.
Speaking ahead of Saturday evening's 1500m repechage heats, ex-Olympian Derval O'Rourke praised the introduction of the format, saying that it encouraged "pure racing."
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Derval O'Rourke praises introduction of repechage round in Olympics
Appearing on RTÉ's coverage of the athletics on Saturday, Derval O'Rourke said that the repechage was a brilliant introduction for the likes of the Irish trio of runners who were eliminated in the first round.
Ahead of Andrew Coscoran, Cathal Doyle, and Luke McCann running in the Stade de France, O'Rourke also said that she felt the format's "do or die" nature was more entertaining to watch than a time-based qualification system.
It's do or die, but it would be a way worse position if they [the Irish runners] were sitting into the stands and didn't make it into a semi-final. If there hadn't been this new format that might have been what happened, because they might not have been in a fastest qualifier spot.
For me it is an interesting one, I was looking it up today. Apparently the IOC went to World Athletics and said 'we can give you this extra chunk of time in the programme if you can come up with a concept, we can give athletics more airtime'.
Obviously the athletics said absolutely, that they would love more airtime. This is the concept they came up with.
They did go to an athlete advisory panel and say 'this is what we're thinking about doing'. It's every event from 200m up to 1500m.
For me it's a good thing, because I think it also makes it very pure racing. It's top three go through and no fastest times. You have to be top three and you have to be able to race.
I know Sonia has talked about this a good bit. We have seen where it has become all about times and actually pure racing is what we all love.
Though Andrew Coscoran and Luke McCann were eliminated in the repechage round, Cathal Doyle would put in a sensational performance to win the first heat and progress to the semi-finals.
Cathal Doyle surges in last 300 metres to win the first 1500m repechage heat in 3:34.92. What a run.#RTESport #Paris2024
📺 Watch https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ
📱Updates https://t.co/7oDcUYslbX pic.twitter.com/TPbM9UKgkq— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 3, 2024
His perfectly timed burst of pace on the final lap saw him cruise away from the field and book his place in Sunday evening's semi-finals in brilliant style.
It's certainly hard to argue that the introduction of the repechage round into the Olympics has not added to the excitement of the event, based on the early evidence.
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