Adead heat is a rare situation in variousracing sports in which the performances of competitors are judged to be so close that no difference between them can be resolved. The result is declared atie and the competitors are awarded a joint ranking. Dead heats can occur in both head-to-head races and competitions where competitors race sequentially and are ranked by finishing time.
Photo finishes have been a long-standing method of resolving outcomes too ambiguous to be distinguished by the naked eye. Improvements in technology, including digital super-slow motion replay and pressure-sensitive digital timers, have increased precision in resolving dead heats. Consequently, dead heats are declared less often than they once were.
TheOxford English Dictionary attributes the term tohorse racing. Meets formerly had the same horses run several "heats" in a day, with victors being decided by the total number of wins. A heat which had no clear single winner was discounted from these tallies and was therefore "dead".[2]
Dead heats are very rare, and situations with three (or more) competitors in a dead heat are exceptionally so. The frequency of dead heats varies between sports, depending on the typical variance in performances and the precision of the technology available. The use of thephoto finish, first introduced in horse racing in second quarter of the 20th century, notably decreased the number of dead heats.[2] Both of the two recorded quadruple dead heats in horse racing occurred in England in the 1850s.[3]
Swimming has a relatively high number of dead heats because, underFINA rules (which includesOlympic events), positions are based on race timings which are limited in precision to hundredths of a second; this is despite the availability of technology that could provide further precision.[4][5]The reason for this is that the length of lanes can vary by up to 3 centimetres (1.2 in), with lower-precision timing compensating for the possible differences between the distances competitors have travelled.[6]
Occasionally racers will try to deliberately engineer a dead heat. During the mid-1940s, twin distance runnersH. Ross Hume andRobert H. Hume became known as the "dead heat twins" for their practice of finishing their races hand-in-hand in intentional efforts to share victory.[7] At the2002 United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis,Ferrari teammatesRubens Barrichello andMichael Schumacher attempted to tie for first place, however Barrichello was adjudicated to have won by 0.011 seconds.[8]
In Formula One qualifying, dead heats have occurred only twice since times were recorded to the thousands of a seconds. At the1997 European Grand Prix in Jerez, whenMichael Schumacher,Jacques Villeneuve, andHeinz-Harald Frentzen all posted the same qualifying time. The positions were then determined based on who posted the time first, which resulted in Villeneuve acquiring pole position.[9] 27 years later, the2024 Canadian Grand Prix sawGeorge Russell andMax Verstappen both posting the same time, but Russell, having set the time first, received the pole position.[10]
If a dead heat is declared, all tied competitors are considered to have jointly achieved the superior position (unless a tie-breaking method is used to separate them).[11] This does not affect awards for subsequent finishers. For example, in the final of theWomen's 100 metre freestyle at the2016 Summer Olympics,Penny Oleksiak andSimone Manuel finished in a dead heat for first place. Both were awarded gold medals, no silver medal was awarded, and the next finisher,Sarah Sjöström, received bronze.[12]
Prizes for the tied competitors may be divided. The rules ofFIA-organised championships, for example, specify that a dead heat in a championship would result in all theWorld Championship points for the tied positions being added together and divided equally between the tied competitors.[13] For example, at the2024 Monza Formula 2 round whereDennis Hauger andGabriel Bortoleto both finished in 8th place in the sprint race, scoring 0.5 points each.[14] Complications can occur if the reward cannot be divided or duplicated: at the Women's 100 meters at the2012 United States Olympic Track Trials,Jeneba Tarmoh andAllyson Felix finished in a dead heat for the third and final place in theUS Olympic team, with there being no provision in the rules to resolve the situation (a head-to-head run-off was proposed, but Tarmoh eventually conceded the place).[15]
InGrand Prix motorcycle racing, joint rankings are resolved by using fastest lap times as a tiebreaker.[16] This rule resulted inHéctor Faubel winning the 125cc classification of the2011 German motorcycle Grand Prix after a photo finish could not separate him andJohann Zarco.[17]
Special provision is made for dead heats in the rules ofsports betting: punters' stakes are divided proportionally by the number of tied competitors.[18]
Points awarded for all the positions of drivers who tie will be added together and shared equally
In case of ties, the riders concerned will be ranked in the order of the best lap time made during the race.