On a 400m track - 200m, 400m, 800m, 4x100m, 4x400m (and other non-Olympic distance relays)
*Staggered start. On a 8 lane 400 m track a staggered start ensures that each athlete runs the same amount in the short distance events such as the 200 and 400 m dash. You will notice that the athletes on the outside lanes seem to start ahead, but their lane seems to finish later. In reality, every lane is the same length if you start and finish where its marked to. Meanwhile, for distance events, the staggered start on the one line is simply used to ensure that no one gets a head start and everyone starts at the same time when the gun goes off.
The start for the 800m is a staggered start with lane 1 starting at the common finish line.
The track is a circle and the further lane out you are in the longer your land is so your starting point is moved forward so all runners end on the same finish line and have ran the same distance
Virtually all athletics tracks are 400 metres long. This is why they have a staggered start in 400m races. An 800 metres race is therefore 2 laps of a 400m track.
There are a few ways to space runners on a track. You could have a staggered start where there is one runner per lane and they each start a but higher then the next (due to which lane they are in). They could also all start on the waterfall (the curved start line).
The starting position
staggered starting positions.
The 1928 summer Olympic Games was the first time the sport of Track and Field offered events for women. There were five events available to women participants.
The track length is longer for the outer lanes. The starting blocks are staggered so that each runner has an equal distance to the finish line. They have to remain in their respective lanes because of the position where they started, to make it fair to all runners.
It starts at 10:10 AM with a staggered start to avoid congestion. In other words the race is run against a computer clock instead of 'gun' time with the elite women jumping off to begin the race and three staggered groups following their lead. Each runner wears a computer chip in their shoe to track them through the course.
Starting pistol
In athletics it's called a staggered start, when athletes do not all start from the same start line. They must run a certain part of the race in their own lane before they are allowed to gravitate towards the innermost lane.