MathNet 2002 — Part 01 Question 143

Question 143

A ski race is divided into two heats; an athlete placed at $3^{\circ}$ in the first and at $5^{\circ}$ in the second. Knowing that the final ranking is drawn up on the basis of the sum of the times obtained in the individual heats, that there are 70 competitors and assuming that there were no ex-aequo, say which positions the athlete can occupy in the final ranking.

The athlete is necessarily fourth
the athlete may have placed anywhere between third and fifth
the athlete may have placed anywhere between second and sixth
the athlete may have placed anywhere between first and seventh
the athlete can have placed anywhere.