Section 5: Rules of Play
The Start
- At the Olympic Games and World Aquatics Events, Athletes start from a fixed starting platform, with positions assigned by random draw; at other competitions the organiser may instead choose an in-water start (Articles 3.1.1–3.1.2 of Part Three).
- On the Starter's command "take your marks," Athletes must immediately take a starting position with at least one foot in contact with the front of the starting platform (or in line with the start line for an in-water start); failing to do so draws a yellow card (Article 3.3.4, 3.3.4.1 of Part Three).
- The starting signal must be both audible and visual, using a white flag; if the Chief Referee considers the start unfair to any Athlete, the race may be restarted (Articles 3.3.5, 3.3.5.1 of Part Three).
During the Race
- An Athlete must follow the course, round every turn buoy in the correct order and direction, not exceed the course boundaries, and complete the full course; failure to do so may result in disqualification from the event (Articles 4.1.2, 4.1.2.1 of Part Three).
- An Athlete must not receive support from any fixed or floating object, or intentionally touch or be touched by anyone aboard an On-water Craft, except for medical reasons, and must not receive pacing from any non-competing person who has entered the water (Articles 4.1.4, 4.1.5 of Part Three).
- The pacing or slip-streaming of an Athlete by any On-water Craft is not permitted; Race Judges will instruct an Athlete taking unfair advantage of a craft's wake to move clear (Articles 4.1.6–4.1.7 of Part Three).
- Time limit: after the finish time of the first-placed Athlete, remaining Athletes have ten minutes per five kilometres (or part thereof) of the total course distance, up to a maximum of sixty minutes, to complete the course; an Athlete who exceeds the limit is recorded as over the time limit and removed from the water unless the Chief Referee permits completion (Articles 4.5.1–4.5.2 of Part Three).
- Race emergency abandonment: a race of 10 km or less is restarted from the beginning at the earliest opportunity; a race longer than 10 km that is abandoned before two hours have elapsed is also restarted from the beginning, while abandonment after two hours produces a final ranking based on the results as reported by the Chief Referee (Articles 4.6.1–4.6.3 of Part Three).
Finish
- An Athlete finishes by touching the finish plate (or crossing the finish line where no plate is used); an Athlete who does not touch the plate is disqualified (Articles 5.3–5.4 of Part Three).
- Any violation within the limits of the finish funnel may result in disqualification, and where a Video Assistant Referee system is in use the Chief Referee enforces disqualification in conjunction with the Video Review Judge (Articles 5.5–5.6, 2.21.4 of Part Three).
Mixed Team Event
- The first Athlete of each team starts together in accordance with the standard start procedure, and each team member must complete their 1.5 km leg consecutively before the next teammate enters the water (Articles 6.1.3–6.1.6 of Part Three).
- Where a relay changeover platform is used, the incoming Athlete's feet must remain in contact with the platform until the outgoing Athlete touches it, then dive from their allocated start position; where no platform is used, both Athletes must be in the water and the contact between their hands or forearms must take place above the water (Articles 6.1.7.1–6.1.7.5.3 of Part Three).
3 km Knockout Sprint
- The event runs over three rounds: Round One (1500 m), Round Two (1000 m, swum as one or two semi-final heats), and Round Three (500 m, a single final), each conducted under the same start, race, and finish rules as the standard race (Articles 7.2.1, 7.2.3, 7.3.1, 7.4.1, 7.5.1 of Part Three).
- The top ten finishers of each Round One heat advance to Round Two (or the top twenty if only one heat is held), and the top ten finishers of Round Two advance to Round Three; Athletes are seeded into Round One heats by a "serpentine system" using World Aquatics Rankings (Articles 7.3.4–7.3.7, 7.4.6–7.4.7 of Part Three).
- A yellow card issued during Round One or Round Two remains valid for all subsequent rounds in which the Athlete competes (Article 7.6.1 of Part Three).