Team USA’s Freddie Crittenden was happy to come last in a 110m hurdles heat as he was labelled as a genius for taking advantage of a long-forgotten rule by viewers on social media.
The 29-year-old Olympic debutant was five seconds behind the winner of Sunday’s race — fellow American, Grant Holloway — despite arriving in Paris as the second-fastest 110m hurdler in the world this year.
He later revealed that he was ‘slightly injured’ with an ‘aggravated muscle’ in his leg while racing and that he knew a sub-par performance would end his chances of qualifying for the semi-finals, except for a controversial rule providing second chances.
In hurdles, the top three finishers of a first-round race go through along with the next-three fastest contestants.
But, those who flop also get a chance to redeem themselves by competing in the ‘repechage round,’ which Crittenden aims to exploit.
Freddie Crittenden said he intended to finish last in the men’s 110m hurdles Round 1 on Sunday
The 29-year-old added that he knew of the repechage rule while taking his time in the race
He now eyes a 48-hour recovery to be healthy to race on Tuesday.
After his performance on Sunday, Crittenden said of he decision to finish last: ‘So, it was an intentional choice. It was either get top three or everyone gets through to the repechage. Every athlete has a chance to race in repechage.
‘So I decided to just not make an emotional choice, make a smart choice. Give my body time to recover a little bit from being aggravated. Lean on my medical doctors. Lean on God. And just wait for repechage round.
‘Come out [here] and try to kill it at the repechage round.’
Fans were torn over the Missouri native’s plan to qualify, as one person called it a ‘1000 IQ move’ on X, while another wrote that Crittenden ‘should be disqualified for breaching the spirit of the Games & not racing.’
Crittenden now aims to qualify for the men’s semifinals race in the repechage round on Tues.
The fan disapproving Crittenden’s tactics added: ‘The repechage isn’t designed to provide extra training/recovery time. Crittenden has taken the opportunity from an alternate athlete to participate if he wasn’t fit.’
One person said Crittenden’s slow job had him ‘shook.’
‘USA hurdler Freddie Crittenden exposing a big loophole in the new repechage round or maybe, that’s what’s its there for?’ a torn individual pointed out.
‘Freddie Crittenden is the reason that repechage shouldn’t exist. Using his heat as a warm up. Ridiculous,’ another disgruntled fan shared.
‘200 IQ move,’ NBC’s official Olympics & Paralympics X account wrote, seemingly praising Crittenden. ‘Freddie Crittenden jogs through his hurdle heat knowing he will automatically qualifying for the repechage round.’
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