What do the yellow and red cards mean in a field event?
A · Advanced · Conduct, protests and kit · 3 of 5In a field event most rule breaches cost only the trial, which is recorded as a failure. Disqualification is for conduct. The referee shows a yellow card to warn and a red card to exclude, and two yellow cards in one competition make a red. An excluded athlete loses that event and may take no further part in the competition.
How it works
- A failed trial: knocking the bar off or breaking one of the pole rules costs that trial and nothing else.
- Conduct: athletes "shall participate in athletics competitions with bona fide effort and shall not engage in unsporting or improper conduct". One who does not may be warned or disqualified.
- Yellow card: a warning from the referee.
- Red card: exclusion from the event.
- Two yellows: a second yellow card in the same competition is followed at once by a red.
- Straight red: the referee may exclude without a warning where the circumstances justify it.
- After a conduct disqualification: the athlete is out of that event and of all further events in the competition. Performances from earlier rounds and earlier events stay valid.
- A technical disqualification: where an athlete is disqualified for breaking a technical rule, performances in that round are not valid, and the athlete may still take part in other events.
- Things that bring a card in a field event: taking a trial out of turn by choice, leaving the event area without an official, misusing markers and receiving help that is not allowed.
- In the results: DQ is followed by the number of the rule. YC, YRC and RC mark a yellow card, a second yellow and a red.
- Who decides: the referee for the event.
Tricky cases
Does knocking the bar off three times count as a disqualification?
No. The athlete is eliminated and keeps any height already cleared.
An athlete is given a yellow card in this event and had one in another event the day before. What happens?
They are disqualified from this event and from everything that follows in the competition.
An athlete is excluded for conduct after their third trial. Do the first three trials still count?
No. Performances in the round of the event in which they were disqualified are not valid.
Does a red card always need a yellow card first?
No. The referee may exclude an athlete without a warning where the circumstances justify it.
Why the rule exists
A failed trial is its own penalty, so a field event rarely needs anything stronger for a technical mistake. Conduct is different because it concerns the person and not the attempt, so its penalty follows the athlete through the competition.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| World Athletics rules | As above | TR 7 |
| Assistance | An athlete who gives or receives help is warned and, on a repeat, disqualified from that event | TR 6.2 |
| Combined events | Performances in earlier individual events remain valid | TR 7.2; TR 7.3 |
| Serious offences | The competition director reports the case for possible further disciplinary action | TR 7.5 |
From the rule book
World Athletics, Competition and Technical Rules, 2026 Edition, Technical Rules 6.2, 7, 25.3.3, 25.5 and 25.19 and Competition Rule 25.5. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: World Athletics Competition and Technical Rules 2026 (PDF).