Eagles wide receiver Devon Allen was disqualified for a false start in the World Athletics Championship 110-meter hurdles finals Sunday night in Eugene, Oregon.
Allen was disqualified for leaving the starting blocks 1/1,000th of a second early. In the slowest of replays shown by NBC, it was imperceptible that Allen had left the blocks early.
The start was reviewed by the officials before Allen was disqualified. After the review, Allen returned to the track before an official came over and informed him that his meet was over.
The NBC broadcast showed Allen off-track dejectedly watching the race.
Allen’s Team USA teammate Grant Holloway won his second consecutive world championship in 13.04 seconds. Team USA’s Trey Cunningham finished second.
Allen, who was cheered by his college town crowd, overcame a slow start and roared back to finish second in his semifinal heat in 13.09.
Tokyo Olympics champion Hansle Parchment, of Jamaica, won Allen’s heat in 13.02.
Allen held up two fingers as he neared the finish line of his heat. The first two finishers automatically qualified for the finals.
Before the final, Parchment injured his right thigh during warm-ups and could not compete in the final.
Allen is an undrafted free agent who will report to Eagles’ training camp on July 26. Allen played wide receiver at the University of Oregon but hasn’t played football since 2016.
Allen participated in Oregon’s Pro Day in April and impressed the Eagles with his workout. The Eagles signed him to a three-year deal.
“I think my goal, this weekend goes great, I win the gold medal, break the world record — great,” Allen told James Crepea of The Oregonian after qualifying for the semifinals.
“I got a week off. During that week, I’ve got to study the playbook because I got camp coming up and then once we get into football, get back five to six days before camp starts, I get back into cleats.
“I’ve been doing a little bit of football stuff now, but I’ll get back into cleats and start running routes and feeling comfortable.”
Allen qualifying for the finals continues his superb outdoor track season that came to such a tragic ending. The two-time Olympian has won three events this spring/summer. He ran the third-fastest time in history (12.84) at the New York Grand Prix.
Earlier this month, he finished third in the U.S. championships. He ran a 13.09 and finished behind Daniel Roberts (13.03) and Cunningham (13.08).
Allen’s third-place finish in the U.S. championships qualified him for the world championships. Roberts tripped during his prelim race yesterday and did not qualify for the semifinals.
