Sunday was supposed to be Devon Allen's time to shine. Instead, heartbreak on his home track ended his world championships by the slimmest of margins.
The Oregon graduate and Philadelphia Eagles hopeful lined up for the 110-meter hurdles final at the world track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon, with a shot at making the podium. He was disqualified thanks to a false start imperceptible to the human eye.
Runners aren't permitted to start within .1 second of the starting gun sounding. Allen was detected as reacting at 0.099, meaning he was disqualified by .001 second. A digital starting block — rather than a human judge — detected the infraction.