Day 1 Semis: Martinenghi In, Out, Shake It All About In A 9-Lane Final
No the Italian who moved on the blocks. Ok, so who did? No answer. A shrug. Perhaps no-one did. Perhaps someone did but it was deemed unfair, given that officials had made their own mistake and they'd be no penalty. We may never know...
Olympic champion Nicolo Martinenghi was in, out and then, after the Italians shook it all about in an appeal process, back in to the final of the 100m breaststroke, his disqualification in the semi-final at World Championships in Singapore cancelled in a bizarre outcome.
There will be a Nine-Lane final - and when my Italian media colleagues asked why the DQ had been reversed, they were told, because the video showed that it wasn't Martinenghi who moved on the blocks before finishing second-fastest qualifier behind China's Qin Haiyang.
Ok, so who did move on the blocks? No answer. A shrug. Perhaps no-one did. Perhaps someone did but it was deemed unfair to take a retro action and penalise an athlete for making a mistake when officials had, apparently, made their own mistake.
Anyhow, no-one hurt in the spill and here, below a few fine shots from Patrick B. Kraemer, are the line ups for finals tomorrow...
Lilly Price of Australia, gets set to race; and Noe Ponti. of Switzerland, gets set for his final - photo - copyright Patrick B. Kraemer
Men's 100m breaststroke
Women's 100m Butterfly
Men's 50m Butterfly
And the one we mentioned for its multi-target merit here:
Craig Lord
