The World Athletics Championships 2025 are set to begin on Saturday, September 13, and will go on till September 21 at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo. The 20th edition of the premier athletics meet will feature over 2000 athletes from about 200 countries. They’ll compete for medals across 49 events.
On Wednesday, September 9, the World Athletics president Sebastian Coe mentioned that the athletes might face ‘heat challenges’ owing to Japan’s record heatwave since 1898. “I don’t think it’s any great secret,” he said, quoted by the BBC. “We do have some heat challenges in Tokyo.”
According to a report by AsiaOne, Japan recorded its hottest summer in 127 years with multiple cities, especially Tokyo and Osaka, reaching above-average temperatures on consecutive days. In July, Japan recorded its highest ever temperature, 41.2°C.
The opening day will see the men’s and women’s 35km race walk, and the temperature is predicted to be at 32°C. To avoid the extreme heat, both the races are scheduled to start at 8 am local time.
During the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games also, Japan was hit by a heatwave and the marathon and race walk events were moved to the northern city of Sapporo, which was relatively cooler. This time, the events will take place in Tokyo only.
Coe, in the media interaction, was vocal about government’s inaction. “Governments have not stepped up to the plate and sport is going to have to take some unilateral judgments and decisions here,” he said. “And we have reflected in the past, if we are committed to athlete welfare, then we should probably be openly committed to that.”
From India, Ram Baboo and Sandeep Kumar will participate in the men’s 35km race walk, while it’ll be Priyanka Goswami in the women’s.
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