eli5: In competitions where there is a tie for a specific rank, such as when two participants share the first position, why is the subsequent rank is typically skipped?

Question

eli5: In competitions where there is a tie for a specific rank, such as when two participants share the first position, why is the subsequent rank is typically skipped?

In: 4

Answer 1

If two people did better than you, then you came in third place. It doesn’t matter whether the two people ahead of you tied or not.