American Noah Lyles briefly appeared to have set an astonishing new 200m world record of 18.90 seconds in the Inspiration Games, before it was revealed he ran only 185m.
Lyles’ time would have obliterated the 19.19-second mark set by Jamaican great Usain Bolt back in 2009.
Given Lyles’ personal best is 19.50 the time was immediately challenged.
“That cannot be right!” said BBC commentator Steve Cram as Lyles crossed the line into a strong headwind.
“Even he has got his hands in the air wondering what is going on!”
Lyles, 22, later tweeted: “You can’t be playing with my emotions like this….”
The farcical ending to one of the event’s headline races will be a major embarrassment to Inspiration Games organisers, who banked on television and timing technology to make a major international athletics event possible despite the restrictions of coronavirus.
Athletes competed from different venues around the world with starting guns firing simultaneously and athletes’ efforts shown alongside each other on television in a split-screen broadcast.
Lyles, who won the 200m world title in Doha last year, reached the bend in Florida well ahead of opponents Christophe Lemaitre and Churandy Martina, competing in Switzerland and the Netherlands respectively.
But his ‘winning’ time was later revealed to have been aided by an error in the placement of his starting blocks, putting him in the wrong lane and affording him a 15m headstart.
Lyles’ younger brother and fellow athlete Josephus was one of those who immediately reacted with disbelief.
Lyles was removed from the race results and victory in the three-man race handed to Lemaitre instead. Winners of each event at the meeting received a $10,000 (£7,930) prize.
Felix impresses in 150m race
American track legend Allyson Felix saw off stiff competition from Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo and world 200m bronze medallist Mujinga Kambundji to win a 150m race earlier in the meeting.
The 34-year-old, who made her comeback last summer following the birth of her daughter in November 2018, won in 16.81 seconds in California.
In the pole vault, world champion Sam Kendricks beat Polish rival Piotr Lisek in the men’s event while Sandi Morris made it an American double triumph by dominating the women’s competition after Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi failed to register a height.
Canada’s Andre De Grasse won a 100-yard sprint, the only event of the night to feature all three athletes in the same stadium, socially distanced of course.
World and Olympic champion Christian Taylor was beaten by Pedro Pablo Pichardo in the triple jump with the Portuguese landing a winning jump of 17.40m.
