Repechage

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Repechage (French, pronounced re-pe-shage, literally re-fishing or to rescue or to save) is a practice amongst ladder competitions that allows participants that failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round.

In track athletics, automatic qualification for the next round is given to the best competitors in each heat. Other competitors with the best times may also qualify for the next round indirectly as "fastest losers" as a result of the repechage. If a particular heat was significantly faster than the others, the repechage spots can be all taken by athletes from that heat.

In field athletics, automatic qualification for the next round depends on meeting or surpassing a specified minimum result. The remaining qualification spots (if any) are given in order to the best results.

In the 24-team version of the FIFA World Cup, the best four teams in third place progressed to the knockout stage. This is similar to the Wild Card berths that would be awarded to teams in the NFL with the best records outside of the division winners.

It is also used in rowing. Often only the first one or two boats in a race will qualify automatically for the next round, and all of the other boats must race again in one or more special heats (known as the repechage) to qualify. Because conditions such as wind vary between the heats, often significantly affecting a competititor's time, rowing's repechage system allows the "fastest losers" to qualify independent of the variable conditions in the opening heats.

In rugby union, the qualification process for the Rugby World Cup uses a repechage system, as does the Air New Zealand Cup, New Zealand's professional domestic competition.

Some, generally high level, fencing tournaments also use repechage, specifically USFA Division I tournaments.