Olympics move nine athletics finals to morning to avoid extreme heat

Nine athletics finals will take place in the morning sessions of next year's Olympics, the IAAF has announced.

The marathon will also start at 06:00 on the final day of athletics competition at Tokyo 2020, with Sir Mo Farah possibly running.

The finals of the men's and women's long jump, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles and shot put will also be contested in the morning.

Athletics starts on Friday, July 31 – a week after the opening of the Games – with the men's 20km race walk and ends on August 9 with the men's marathon.

"The Tokyo 2020 schedule is substantially different from our previous Olympic timetables, but will offer the vast majority of athletics fans attending the Games the opportunity to see Olympic medals being decided, with finals scheduled in 15 of the 17 sessions in the main stadium,'' IAAF Competitions Director Paul Hardy said.

"Having finals in the morning, as requested by the International Olympic Committee, will enhance the visibility of athletics across all time zones.

"The stadium-based distance events remain in the evening sessions to reduce the risk of very hot conditions for our endurance athletes, while the road events will start as early as practicable in the morning.

"The new schedule also accommodates both the traditional doubles and the historic addition of the mixed 4x400m relay, the first time that athletics has combined the talents of both male and female athletes in one event at the Games."

The decathlon and heptathlon will be staged together in the same two-day period, August 5-6.

The schedule will allow enough time for 400m specialists to compete in the new mixed 4x400m relay event that will be contested on day two.