Champion swimmer disqualified for post-race celebration

[mahatmakanejeeves]

ACC CHAMPION OWEN LLOYD DISQUALIFIED FOR HIS POST-RACE CELEBRATION



Owen Lloyd finished first in the men's 1650 free, but after falling into his teammate Ross Dant's lane, he was disqualified by officials. Archive photo via Jack Spitser/Spitser Photography

BY BRADEN KEITH 243
February 25th, 2024 ACC, College

A dramatic scene unfolded on Saturday night at the start of the last session of the 2024 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships.

A meet full of records from the Walsh sisters and Notre Dame’s Chris Giuliano might instead be remembered for an unusual and rarely-called disqualification in the men’s 1650 free.

NC State’s Owen Lloyd touched the wall in 14:37.04, ostensibly winning the ACC title. In celebration of his victory, Lloyd mounted the lane rope, eventually falling into the lane of his teammate and the runner-up Ross Dant, who was two seconds behind.

“Interfered with another swimmer” was the official declaration on the results as the reason for the disqualification. ... Dant, who finished in 14:39.34, was declared the winner.

{snip}

Hat tip, this video:

Swimmer gets disqualified for celebrating (Uncut)

Buttstroke Swimming
1.75K subscribers

Subscribe

3,895,693 views Feb 25, 2024
North Carolina State Senior Owen Lloyd posted the fastest time in the men's 1650 yard Freestyle, earning him the ACC Title, an automatic entry to the National Championships, and a new best time. Moments later, an announcement was made that Lloyd had been disqualified for "interference with another swimmer."

The rule(s) at play from the NCAA rulebook:
- Rule 2, Section 5, Article 1a: "Any competitor who interferes with another swimmer during a race shall be disqualified from that race, subject to the discretion of the referee..."
- Rule 2, Section 5, Article 1b: "A swimmer who changes lanes during a heat shall be disqualified."

Twitter/X, Instagram: ButtstrokeSwim

{snip}

[Raven123]

1. So I assume other swimmers hadn't finished when he jumped the rope

The news clip I saw made it sound like the race has ended, which is strange

[Hope22]

3. These two swimmers were about 50 meters ahead of the rest...

First and second place had finished the rest were still racing but there was no contact with them.

[Raven123]

4. While unfortunate, I agree with the decision.

There is a reason for that rule.

[Nittersing]

2. That was a bs call

Team mate had finished his race... he didn't interfere with anybody.

[Xavier Breath]

5. I'm not a competitive swimming expert

nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but yeah, that seems like bs. I could understand if he had fallen into a lane with an active swimmer, but that clearly wasn't the case. The rule needs to be examined. Little solace for this young man, though.