The Women’s Marathon in the Ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics has been rescheduled due to the expected high temperatures.

According to Word Athletic the competition was originally scheduled at 7A.m on Saturday is now set to start at 6.Am on the same day.

This is after a series of discussions today among the World Athletics (WA), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee that reviewed all the considerations and that Athletes’ health and well-being are their top priorities.

All team officials will be asked to inform their athletes of the conditions so that they are able to pace themselves during the race.

The events will happen at Sapporo city 832km from Tokyo and Kenya will be represented by Brigid Kosgei, Peres Jepchirchir and Ruth Chepngetich.

Brigid unlike Jepchirchir and Chepngetich this will be her first championship race, but as the world record holder after the jaw-dropping 2:14:04 in Chicago in 2019.

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She has only raced twice in 2021 after winning the London Marathon last year and the Tokyo Olympics will tell what condition she is, even though the heat in Japan has been brutal to many athletes on the track at the Olympic Stadium, and might even be worse in Sapporo as they run on the roads for over two hours.

Chepngetich won the world title in almost similar hot conditions in Doha in 2019 and could be the favourite for a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

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Jepchirchir on her side is a two-time world half-marathon winner and she also raced to the fastest time in the world last year when clocking 2:17:16 in the Valencia Marathon.

Birhane Dibaba,Roza Dereja and Zeineba Yimer are amongst the big team Kenya’s rival in the women’s marathon.

Other marathoners includes Lonah Chemtai Salpeter of Israel,Helalia Johannes of Namibia,Mao Ichiyama and Mizuki Matsuda both fro Japan

Competition Format

As all Olympic marathons, the competition will be a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards will be run over a course that starts with two laps around Odori Park. The route then includes a large loop (about half the marathon’s length) through the streets of Sapporo, passing by Nakajima Park, Sapporo TV Tower, and Hokkaido University, and crossing the Toyohira River twice. The course then takes two trips around a smaller (approximately 10 kilometres) section of the large loop. The finish line is back at Odori Park.

The marathon at the Summer Olympics is the only road running event held at the multi-sport event. The men’s marathon has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. Nearly ninety years later, the women’s event was added to the programme at the 1984 Olympics.

Friday’s medal events include baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, cycling, golf, field hockey, karate, modern pentathlon, soccer, sport climbing, table tennis, track and field and wrestling. There will also be coverage throughout the day of basketball and volleyball.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics closing ceremony is set to be held on Sunday 8th.