This just illustrates that this specific competition has become meaningless. It might measure their auditory reaction time more than their sprinting speed.
If a faster auditory reaction is intrinsic to the abilities of the runner, then that's an advantage they can exploit.
I join millions of other people who find it enjoyable to watch. By that measure it's meaningful. In fact, more meaningful than the _vast_ majority of Olympic events which have less parity and orders of magnitude fewer viewers.
Every competition has factors preceding and during the moments of measured performance that are like this. You could also say that a runner’s performance is about their ability to train consistently, apply self discipline to their daily lives, perform under pressure, etc.
It seems odd to me that in the sum of all moments leading up to the start of a race, somehow reaction time would no longer be relevant.
If a runner gets distracted by the crowd, that’s just as impactful to the race but has nothing to do with their potential speed. The race is a measurement of all factors - mental and physical - and all participants are measured the same way.
I don't think this method would be as entertaining to watch.