Heats, semi-finals and finals

Place and time

The athletics rules say that, where practicable, at least the first and second in each heat should qualify, and they recommend at least three. Any other athletes may qualify by place or by time. In races longer than 800 metres the rules recommend that only a small number qualify by time.

Other sports weigh the two differently. In short track speed skating, race winners go through, then further finishing places listed in a qualification table, and only then the fastest of the next finishers if places remain. In roller speed skating's sprint events, the first round is decided on time alone.

The two routes reward different things. Qualifying by place is a race against the people beside you, and it can be won slowly. Qualifying by time is a race against people you cannot see, and it punishes a tactical heat. That is reasoning from the rule, and it is the reason the athletics rules keep time qualifiers few in the longer races, where tactics matter most.

Who sets the numbers

Not the rule book. The athletics rules say the regulations for each competition should include tables giving the number of rounds, the number of heats in each round and how many advance by place and by time. The technical delegates may depart from those tables.

So "first three and the next two fastest" is true of one race at one championship. It is not a rule of the sport.

Rowing and canoeing are the exception: they print the whole progression in their rules, and it changes only with the number of boats.

How the heats are built

Heats are not drawn at random. Athletes are ranked first, and the ranking is spread across the heats.

Athletics uses a zigzag. For three heats, the rules give this example:

Each heat gets a share of the strongest and the weakest. For the first round the ranking comes from performances in a set period. After the first round, in events up to 400 metres, it comes from placings and times in the round just run: the fastest heat winner first, then the other heat winners, then the second places and last the time qualifiers.

Swimming spreads only the top of the field. With three heats, the fastest swimmer goes in the third heat, the next fastest in the second and the next in the first, then round again. With four or more heats, only the last three are seeded that way. The earlier heats hold the slower swimmers, in order.

Rowing seeds lightly and says why. The purpose of seeding is "to avoid many of the faster boats in an event being drawn into the same heat". In principle two crews are seeded in each heat, the seeding affects the heats only, and it "shall not be taken into account for any of the later rounds".

Athletics also puts athletes of the same country, and the best performers, in different heats where it can.

A first round against the clock

Some events do not start with heats at all. Everyone goes alone, or at intervals, and the clock ranks the field.

• Cross-country skiing sprint. A qualification round is skied with a start every 15 seconds. A maximum of 30 advance to the quarter-finals.
• Rowing. With 67 or more crews, the first round is one time trial for all of them, and the first 24 go to the quarter-finals. A time trial may also replace heats when weather or lost time leaves no fair alternative.
• BMX racing. A separate time trial may be held before the racing, and its result is then used to seed the first phase.
• Kayak cross. Qualification begins with an individual run that ranks the field.

The time-trial round does two jobs at once. It cuts the field, and it produces the ranking that seeds the races that follow.

One event from start to finish: the ski sprint

The cross-country sprint at the Olympic Winter Games, World Championships and World Cup shows every part of the system in a single afternoon.

1. Qualification. Everyone skis the course alone against the clock. The best 30 go on.
2. Quarter-finals. Five heats of six. The 30 are laid across the heats from their qualification rank: the fastest qualifier in the first heat, the second fastest in the fourth, the third in the fifth and so on.
3. Semi-finals. Two heats of six. The first two from each quarter-final go through by place. The last two seats go to the two fastest skiers who finished third or fourth, the "lucky losers".
4. Final. Six skiers: the first two from each semi-final, plus the next two fastest.

At these competitions the heats must be timed, because time decides the lucky losers. If two of them have the same time, their qualification times separate them.

The rules also allow something unusual. Qualified skiers may choose their own quarter-final heat, in a set order, instead of being assigned to one.

Lanes are a reward

Qualifying well buys a better lane. In an athletics straight race on eight lanes, the four highest ranked athletes are drawn into lanes 3, 4, 5 and 6. The next two go into lanes 2 and 7 and the two lowest into lanes 1 and 8.

Swimming has no draw. The fastest swimmer goes in lane 4 of an eight-lane pool and the next fastest beside them. The rest alternate outwards to right and left.

Rowing follows the same principle after the heats: crews with the best placings in the previous round are put in the middle lanes, the next best in the lanes outside them. In the ski sprint, the reward is choice. Skiers pick their starting positions in order of their qualification times and earlier rankings.

Which heat runs first

In athletics the order of the heats is drawn after the heats are made up. The rules give the reason. Athletes in the last heat know what time they need in order to qualify, and the weather can change between heats, so the order is left to chance.

A dead heat for the last place

When two athletes tie for the last qualifying place, the sports differ again.

In athletics the times are read to a thousandth of a second. If they are still equal, both go through if a lane is free, and otherwise lots are drawn.

In swimming there may be a swim-off: the tied swimmers race again, after everyone has finished their heats. A ten-lane pool can avoid that by using the spare lanes.

In dragon boat racing both crews move on if the programme allows it. If there are not enough lanes they are offered a race-off.

In triathlon's qualifying waves, tied athletes all progress and the size of the final is adjusted.

Field events: a standard in place of heats

Jumps and throws use a qualification round. The technical delegates set a qualifying standard and the number of athletes in the final. Anyone who reaches the standard stops competing in that round and is in the final. If too few reach it, the final is filled by the best performances.

At the highest level of competition there should be at least 12 athletes in the final. Marks from the qualification round do not count in the final.

More than one final

Some sports rank the athletes who miss the final, by giving them a final of their own.

At International Skating Union short track events the round of finals always has two races: the Final, which decides the winner, and Final B, which decides the next places.

Rowing takes the idea furthest. Final A is for places 1 to 6, Final B for places 7 to 12, and the lettering continues as far as the entry requires. With 13 to 18 crews there are three heats, two semi-finals and Finals A, B and C. A crew that misses the semi-finals still races once more, for places 13 to 18.

Canoe sprint's Olympic progression has a Final A and, for larger entries, a Final B and a Final C. The ski sprint has its A-Final at the top competitions, and at others the organiser may add a B-Final.

Rowing and canoeing: the whole path printed in the rules

World Rowing's progression system is a set of cases, chosen by counting the crews.

Canoe sprint's Olympic progression works the same way on eight lanes. With nine or ten boats there are two heats: the first three in each go straight to the final, and the rest race one semi-final for the last two places. With 20 to 24 boats there are four heats, two quarter-finals and two semi-finals.

Nothing is left to the day. If a crew withdraws and the number drops into another case, the draw is made again.

Racing three times before anyone is out

BMX racing begins with a phase called the motos. Riders are put in heats of eight or fewer, and each heat races three rounds. Nobody is eliminated until all three are done, and the riders with the best overall result go on.

After the motos comes an elimination phase, and then the final. In a category with eight riders or fewer there is no final at all: the combined score from the three moto rounds is the result.

It is a different answer to the problem of one bad race. Short track answers it with a repechage, and BMX answers it by making the first round three races long.

Elimination on the clock, in one session

Formula 1 qualifying is a heats system with no heats. All the cars are on track together and the slowest are removed in stages. Under the 2026 sporting regulations, written for 22 cars:

Lap times are wiped between periods, so a quick lap in Q1 counts for nothing in Q2. The ten drivers in Q3 take the first ten positions in the order of their Q3 times, those removed in Q2 take the next six and those removed in Q1 the six after that. With 20 cars eligible, five are removed each time. With 24, seven.

Nobody is knocked out of the event here. The session produces an order.

When one round is enough

Rounds exist only because of numbers. The athletics rules call for qualification rounds when there are too many athletes for a single round. In swimming, if there is only one heat, it is seeded as a final and swum in the final session. In rowing, an event with six crews or fewer still has a preliminary race, but everyone in it goes to the final.

It changes from event to event

The one thing to remember: before a heat, find two numbers, how many go through by place and how many by time. They are in the competition's regulations and usually on the start list, and they are set for that competition.