#Champs2023: KC’s Clarke DQ’d for Wednesday’s incident in Boys’ Class 2 100m final
KINGSTON, Jamaica -Kingston College’s Nicardo Clarke was on Friday disqualified from the Class 2 boys’ 100m final held on Wednesday at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships following an incident with Calabar High’s Khamani Gordon who was also disqualified.
It is believed that a protest from Calabar High was upheld by the Meet Referee as there was video evidence showing Clarke physically assaulting Gordon after the race.
READ: #Champs2023: KC’s Clarke leads the pack in Class 2 Boys 100m
Clarke, who was originally given fifth place, was found guilty on World Athletics rule 18.5 which speaks to “Acting in an unsporting/improper manner” and Kingston College would lose the four points.
Gordon was disqualified on Thursday after he was found to have caused obstruction after he veered out of his lane and collided with Clarke during the final on Wednesday evening.
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Gordon was found to have breached World Athletics’ technical rule 17.2.2 which speaks to obstruction by an athlete or a team.
Clarke, who was expected to medal was well placed when Gordon veered out of his lane and got his hand tangled up with the Kingston College runner before appearing to shove him, causing him to lose his balance.
Clarke who finished fifth was irate after the race and had to be separated from Gordon who finished eighth.
The rule says “if another athlete is found by the Referee to be responsible for the jostling or obstruction, such athlete (or their team) shall be liable to disqualification from that event.”
The rule also went on to say that if the Referee is of the opinion that the athlete or team was “seriously affected” the race could be rerun without the disqualified athlete.
Calabar High’s Shaquane Gordon won the gold medal after running 10.40 seconds (1.1m/s), St Elizabeth Technical’s Tramaine Todd was second in 10.42 seconds and Dontae Watson of Jamaica College was third in 10.72 seconds.
– Paul A Reid