Saturday’s women’s Olympic marathon at the Tokyo Games has been brought forward an hour to a 6. 00 a.m. (2100 GMT Friday) start in order to protect runners from the heat, organisers have said.
The move was made on the advice of the medical commission of the governing World Athletics.
Marathons and the race walks at the Games were taken out of Tokyo to Sapporo, some 700 kilometres north of the Japanese capital, order to avoid searing temperatures.
However, athletes in Friday’s race walks still competed in heat of over 30 degree Celsius.
Temperatures at the start of the women’s marathon are still expected to be around a testing 25 degrees.
The men’s marathon on Sunday currently retains its original start time of 7.00 a.m.
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