BIRMINGHAM, England -- All five athletes in a heat of the men's 400-metre heats were disqualified at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.
According to the IAAF, having a whole field disqualified is a first in the indoor championship's history and the farcical turn of events began when Qatar's Abdalelah Haroun was given a red card for a false start.
The race then proceeded as normal with one of the favourites for gold, Grenada's Bralon Taplin, easing home. But then later came clarification that all four remaining athletes -- Taplin, Jamaica's Steven Gayle, Austria's Austris Karpinskis and the Bahamas' Alonzo Russell -- had been disqualified for lane infringements.
Reigning silver medallist Haroun said of his own disqualification that he "did not know quite what happened."
Slovenia's Luka Janezic qualified fastest overall in 46.45 seconds with the semifinals taking place Friday evening.
Elsewhere, Great Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson is second in the women's pentathlon heading into the evening's session, with Cuba's Yorgelis Rodriguez leading the field, just 13 points ahead.
Johnson-Thompson scored best in the high jump with 1.91 metres, then threw a personal-best 12.68 metres in the shot put in front of her home crowd. Austria's Ivona Dadic is third, with USA's Erica Bougard fourth.
In the women's 60 metres, France's Carolle Zahi ran the fastest time with 7.11 seconds -- a personal best -- with gold-medal favourite Marie-Josee Ta Lou registering 7.17.
