Fears over the heat have led Japanese organisers to announce that the 2025 World Athletics Championships will take place in September, despite initial plans to stage the event in August.
World Athletics initially wanted the meet at the National Stadium to be held in late August, but it now been agreed that it will take place between September 13 and 21
The start date will be the second-latest in the 42-year history of the World Championships following the 2019 edition in Doha, which begun on September 27.
Japan’s summers are hot, humid, and can be deadly.
It forced the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to controversially move the marathons and race walks to Sapporo during the re-arranged Olympic Games in Tokyo last year.
Several runners finished in distress at the end of the distance races held on the track during Tokyo 2020.
Last month, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe had pledged that all the medal events during the World Championships in Tokyo will take place in the Japanese capital.
This will be the second time that Tokyo has hosted the World Athletics Championships.
In 1991, it started on August 23 and lasted until September 1, and was best remembered for an epic long jump duel between Americans Mike Powell and Carl Lewis, which ended with the former breaking Bob Beamon’s 23-year world record with a leap of 8.95 metres.
Tokyo has always had hot and humid temperatures, but after decades of global warming, increases in the frequency of heat waves, and extensive urbanisation, summers there are getting worse.
This summer, Japan suffered under the hottest day yet of its worst heatwave since records began in 1875.
The blistering heat drew official warnings of a looming power shortage and led to calls for people to conserve energy where possible. –Insidethegames
