SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 8 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

How is the lane width for athletes in races up to 400 meters determined on a synthetic track?

(a)Each lane is 2 meters wide, marked by 10 cm lines.
(b)Each lane is 1.22 to 1.25 meters wide, marked by 5 cm lines.
(c)Lanes vary in width depending on the number of athletes.
(d)There are no separate lanes for races up to 400 meters.

Answer

Why

Correct — B. World Athletics' Technical Rules say that in all races up to and including 400m, each athlete has a separate lane 1.22 m ± 0.01 m wide, including the lane line on the right, marked by white lines 50 mm wide.

A note allows lanes of up to 1.25 m on tracks built before 1 January 2004. That gives the '1.22 to 1.25 m' of the option, and 50 mm is 5 cm → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Each lane is 2 meters wide, marked by 10 cm lines. — The rule fixes lanes at 1.22 m ± 0.01 m, with lane lines 50 mm wide. Both numbers in this option are far too large.
(c)
Lanes vary in width depending on the number of athletes. — The rule says all lanes shall be of the same nominal width. Lane width does not change with the number of athletes in a race.
(d)
There are no separate lanes for races up to 400 meters. — The rule is the reverse: in all races up to and including 400m, each athlete shall have a separate lane.

Concept

A standard track is a 400 m oval. In races up to one lap, each athlete stays in a lane from start to finish, and because the outer lanes run a wider curve, their start lines are staggered so every lane covers the same distance.

The lane-width rule sits in World Athletics' Technical Rules on track measurements, beside the rule that all lanes share one nominal width.

The current figure is 1.22 m ± 0.01 m. The 1.25 m ceiling survives only for tracks built before 2004 and ends when such a track is fully resurfaced, which is why the keyed option reads as a range.

Key facts

World Athletics: in races up to and including 400m, each athlete has a separate lane.
Lane width is 1.22 m ± 0.01 m, including the lane line on the right.
Lane lines are white and 50 mm wide.
Tracks built before 1 January 2004 may keep lanes up to 1.25 m wide until fully resurfaced.

Study next

Staggered starts on a 400 m trackWorld Athletics rules for relay take-over zones

Common traps

Reading 1.25 m as the standard width: the current figure is 1.22 m ± 0.01 m, and 1.25 m is a ceiling allowed only on older tracks.
Thinking lanes are optional in short races: the rule gives each athlete a separate lane in every race up to and including 400m.

Here an event rule is tested as a measurement. Competition rules of another sport are tested at 15 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.4, on World Championship swimming distances.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.