It is worthwhile to go into a brief statistical analysis on the technical decisions expressed by the jury at Taicang 2018.
We would like to remember that, compared to the past, this year there were two news:
- the women's 50km race, not present in the past, except for the only competitor in Roma 2016
- the Pit Lane Rule, this year operating in all categories, while in Rome 2016 it had been operating only in the two races of 10 km U20.
In the following table we summarize the red cards sent by the jury.
| Event | Loss of contact | % | Bent Knee | % | Total | % |
| | | | | | | |
| 50km men | 28 | 47,5 | 31 | 52,5 | 59 | 100 |
| 20km men | 48 | 66,7 | 24 | 33,3 | 72 | 100 |
| 10km U20 men | 36 | 87,8 | 5 | 12,2 | 41 | 100 |
| Sub-total men | 112 | 65,1 | 60 | 34,9 | 172 | 100 |
| | | | | | | |
| 50km women | 2 | 11,1 | 16 | 88,9 | 18 | 100 |
| 20km women | 29 | 76,3 | 9 | 23,7 | 38 | 100 |
| 10km U20 women | 22 | 75,9 | 7 | 24,1 | 29 | 100 |
| Sub-total women | 53 | 62,4 | 32 | 37,6 | 85 | 100 |
| | | | | | | |
| Total | 165 | 64,2 | 92 | 35,8 | 257 | 100 |
There are two possible technical considerations:
- in general, the loss of contact represents almost two thirds of the infringements of the rule detected by the jury
- men are more likely to this type of error while women are more likely than males if we refer to the bent knee
It is also interesting to note the consequences of the new Pit Lane rule during these Team Championships.
We summarize the data in the following table.
| Event | Athletes in Pit Lane | % | Athletes DQ | % | Total | % |
| | | | | | | |
| 50km men | 3 | 37,5 | 5 | 62,5 | 8 | 100 |
| 20km men | 5 | 55,6 | 4 | 44.4 | 9 | 100 |
| 10km U20 men | 1 | 25,0 | 3 | 75,0 | 4 | 100 |
| Sub-total men | 9 | 42,9 | 12 | 57,1 | 21 | 100 |
| | | | | | | |
| 50km women | - | | 1 | 100 | 1 | 100 |
| 20km women | 1 | 50,0 | 1 | 50,0 | 2 | 100 |
| 10km U20 women | - | | 3 | 100 | 3 | 100 |
| Sub-total women | 1 | 16,7 | 5 | 83,3 | 6 | 100 |
| | | | | | | |
| Total | 10 | 37,0 | 17 | 63,0 | 27 | 100 |
The first consideration, and in our opinion the most important, is that the main effect of this rule has been to reduce the number of disqualifications of 42,9% in men and 16.,7% in women (37% in total).
The race that benefited most from this new rule was the 20km men, in which the rate of decrease of disqualifications reached 55,6%.
If we then analyze the effects of this rule in the team standing, we would note that only the male teams benefited from it and in particular:
in the 20km men
France that with the use of Pit Lane Rule by Kevin Campion (120") managed to maintain the eighth position in the team standing, which otherwise would have lost as it would have reached the finish line only with two athletes instead of the three indicated by the classification rules;
India that with the use of the Pit Lane Rule by Vikas Singh (120") managed to enter in the team standing, from which otherwise it would have been excluded as it would have reached the finish line only with two athletes instead of the three required by the rules ranking;
in the 10km U20 men
Australia that with the use of Pit Lane Rule by Declan Tingay (60") managed to keep the bronze medal in the team standing, which otherwise would have lost (in favor of Spain) as it would have reached the finish line using the 41st position of Mitchell Baker instead of the 14th of Declan Tingay.
In all other cases the Pit Lane Rule had no effect that it could influence the Team standing.