He alone carried the weight of the French sprint over the race. Ryan Zézé was the only tricolor contender at the start of the 200m and could, given his times this season, legitimately claim a place in the semi-finals.
To qualify for the next round, you had to finish in the top three of your race, or be among the top three times in all seven series. Ryan Zézé was placed in the seventh and last heat of the day and therefore had an advantage over his competitors.
The dream will quickly turn into a nightmare, at least initially. After a few seconds of racing, the sprinters are all called back into the blocks. Ryan Zézé is finally disqualified for a false start. However, the Frenchman, placed in lane n°2, did not believe his eyes and complained to the judges, before seeing the slow motion of his start on the control screen.
After a few minutes, the 25-year-old sprinter – who had a reaction time of 83 thousandths, below the minimum 100 thousandths – was nevertheless invited to take the start. Visibly recovered, Ryan Zézé had an excellent race.
He takes third place in his series and would therefore be directly qualified for the semi-finals. Better than that, the regular of the French relays finished a hair behind the second and his time of 20 sec 14. Personal record a priori for the younger brother of Méba-Mickael Zézé. Except that his time is not displayed. A few minutes after the race, he is considered disqualified. A decision that will be formalized about an hour after the race.
The French took advantage of a point of regulation allowing a rider to start in order to give more time to the judges to make their decision. Ryan Zézé is therefore disqualified. No French will take the start of the 200m.
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