Advancing Through Rounds¶
Initial Setup¶
Seeding the first round of a multi-round event is near identical to seeding an event with a single round.
For events with more than one round, ensure you provide the start time for all subsequent rounds, to correctly place them in the event timetable. This can be done in the event's advanced configuration page.
Understanding Round Structure¶
The round structure of an event determines the number of rounds and heats within each event.
It can be changed in the events grid or on the seeding page itself.
At championships you might see structures like 7,3,1 (7 heats, 3 semi-finals, and a final), or 3,1 (3 heats/pools, and a final).
In open competition you might see structures like 10,10 (10 heats in Round 1, and 10 heats in Round 2).
Track¶
Championships¶
Most progression through rounds occurs at championships, with athletes moving from heats to a final, sometimes with intermediate rounds.
To use OpenTrack's World Athletics-compliant championship seeding, head to the blue seeding box, and select Championship heats as your method.
Set the number of lanes or athletes per heat, and ensure your round structure is correct.
Heats¶
The key step when seeding a championship event is to set how many athletes will progress to the next round.
- Qualifiers on position (Q) - The number of athletes in each heat who progress by virtue of their placing in that heat, i.e. a value of 3 would mean the first three athletes in each heat would progress.
- Qualifiers on performance (q) - This sets the number of athletes across the round who progress by virtue of their performance, i.e. a value of 5 would mean the five fastest athletes who did not qualify by virtue of their placing would progress.
Progressing the Correct Number of Athletes
The Expected qualifiers and Spaces in next round fields should assist with setting the number of athletes to progress.
Spaces in next round is calculated by multiplying the number of heats provided in the round structure by the number of spaces available in each.
The Expected qualifiers field will display a warning if you are attempting to progress more or fewer athletes than there are spaces available.
After you're happy with your settings, follow the usual seeding process, pressing SEED HEATS, and making any manual modifications needed.
RP - CHAMP SEEDING, R1.png)
Click PUBLISH once ready for the public to see the start lists.
RP - CHAMP R1 SEEDED.png)
Once all results are uploaded, click MARK QUALIFIERS, which will award a Q, q, or nothing to athletes based on the settings you provided.
RP - CHAMP R1 Q & q MARKED.png)
Semi-Finals¶
If your event has a semi-final, the tab for that round of the event will contain a simplified seeding box.
As in the first round, define the number of athletes who will qualify for the next round on position/performance, then click SEED HEATS and PUBLISH.
Warning
Qualifiers must be marked before subsequent rounds are able to be seeded.
Once all results are uploaded, click MARK QUALIFIERS to progress athletes to the final.
Final¶
Once you've marked the qualifiers from the previous round, click SEED FINAL, and PUBLISH.
Open Meetings¶
Open meetings may use progression through rounds in events where athletes are given two or more runs.
This is often seen in sprint events, where athletes are seeded in Round 1 based on their SB/PB, and then in Round 2 based on their Round 1 performance.
Head to the blue seeding box and set Open meet seeding as your method.
Set the number of lanes or athletes per heat, and ensure your round structure is correct.
Seeding Round 1¶
Seeding the first round of an event is identical to seeding an event with asingle round.
Ensure you're happy with the athletes' seeding performances, which can be changed in the competitor tab.
After you're happy with your settings, follow the usual seeding process, pressing SEED HEATS, and making any manual modifications needed.
Click PUBLISH once ready for the public to see the start lists.
RP - OPEN SEEDING, R1.png)
Seeding Round 2+¶
Click on the Round 2 (or Round 3 etc.) tab within your event.
The Method option allows athletes to be sorted into heats either slowest to fastest, or fastest to slowest.
There are three checkbox options for including athletes without a valid performance in the first round: - Include DQ athletes - Include DNF athletes - Include DNS athletes
Ticking any of these boxes will ensure athletes with a matching status are seeded in Round 2 based on the seeding performance listed for them in the Competitors tab.
As in the first round, you can then click SEED HEATS and PUBLISH.
RP - OPEN SEEDING, R2.png)
Manual Progression¶
Clicking EDIT on any heat will allow you to manually progress athletes, which is useful in cases where athletes have been progressed to the next round by officials.
In the Advancement column shown, you can change an athlete's status to q, Q, qR or qJ.
It is recommended to make any manual changes after pressing MARK QUALIFIERS, but before seeding the round you are progressing athletes into.
If you have already seeded, you are always able to re-seed based on any manual changes made.
Field¶
Championships¶
The process of carrying out automated progression in a field event is almost identical to that of a track event.
The difference comes in the criteria for progression, as there is an additional field for Qualifying Performance, for events with a standard that athletes can achieve that guarantees progression.
If a Qualifying Performance is set, anyone who can equal or better the performance will progress with a Q.
If no Qualifying Performance is set, the Qualifiers on position and Qualifiers on performance fields will work exactly as above.
Once your fields are set up, all other progresses are identical to the processes outlined for track events above.
Open Meetings¶
See Track - Open Meetings section above
Manual Progression¶
You can also complete field progression manually.
Seed your qualification pools however you wish.
RP-FIELD.png)
Once your first round has concluded, manually add Qs & qs to those you wish to progress, as outlined above.
RP-FIELD.png)
In the tab for the subsequent round, click SEED FINAL, and PUBLISH.