Heatwave hits Japan site of Olympic marathon

TOKYO: Japan’s northern Hokkaido region was supposed to offer cooler climes for next week’s Olympic marathons and race walks, but now the area is battling a heatwave.

Olympic organisers moved the two events from Tokyo in 2019, worried that even shifting the start times to dawn would not be enough to keep athletes safe from the heat.

The summer temperatures in Hokkaido’s Sapporo were expected to be kinder — around five or six degrees Celsius cooler than Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee said.

But in the last week, temperatures in Sapporo hit over 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit), and they are forecast to hover between maximums of 31 and 34 degrees over the next week, when the race walks and marathons will take place.

The mercury has surged even higher elsewhere in Hokkaido, with one town in the region becoming the first place in Japan this year to record temperatures over 38 degrees.

The men’s 20-kilometre race walk takes place in the region on Thursday, followed by the women’s race and the marathons for men and women over the next few days.

Temperatures in Tokyo over the coming week are forecast to range from maximums of 30 to 34 Celsius.

Heat has been a persistent concern for organisers, with a raft of counter-measures drawn up including misting stations and ice jackets.