by Larry Eder
World Outdoor Championships are held in the late Summer or Early Fall. I have attended World Champs since 1995, in Gothenburg. Each championships, there has been some days that have been quite hot and humid. In Tokyo, Japan, the humidity may be the toughest challenge in any event in track & field. Here are my deep thoughts:
- The 35k race walks were definitely affected, as the hot conditions, plus the humidity combined for some challenging conditions. If you look at the video of the Men’s race walk, you will see Evan Dunfee, the gold medalist, who barely held on over the last two kilometers, with leg cramps and what he found out post event, was a significant muscle injury, forcing the Canadian to withdraw from the upcoming 20 kilometer.
- The Marathons were quite tactical, but the humidty played havoc with the athletes. Interviews with Richard Ringer, Germany, 13th, Clayton Young, US, 9th and C.J. Albertson, US, 40th, told a story of having prepared for hot and humid weather, and how difficult the last 10k of the race was. World Athletics should be congratulated for moving up the races by a half hour, to 7 AM. It would have been better at 6 AM, as they do in the Dubai Marathon and RAK Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates. The humidity and heat were expected, but not sure any athlete fared well. On the Men’s side, the differential in marathon times for the leaders was about four to five minutes slower than their PBs. On the women’s the top two women, Peres Jepchirchir and Tigist Assefa were eight to twelve minutes slower than their PB. That is why Julia Paternain and Susanna Sullivan, both running so well was so fascinating!
- The field events were affected as well. Katie Moon told RunBlogRun after her gold medal in the pole vault, that she was soaked prior to the pole vault final. The humidity is draining and challenging for all events, and those who do not respect it, do so at their own peril.
- The sprints and the jumps seem to benefit from the heat, but the athletes have to watch themselves in the humidity. The fascinating fact is that we have seen few athletes, outside of the road races, have scary effects from the weather conditions.
- The 10,000 meters were fascinating, as the women ran a moderate pace and finished very hard. The men, ran a pace so slow that everyone was in the race and two European men medaled, surpring the Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes. Jimmy Gressier used a brutal sprint at the end of the 10,000m to take his gold. Beatrice Chebet and Nadia Battocletti ran away from the field with a final sprint over the last 200m and Geordie Beamish, going from 11th to first in the steeple in the last straightaway was exhilterating. Tactics that took consideration of the conditions. I found it fascinating how few athletes even spoke about the heat and humidity!
- The truth is, World Championships are held in the Summer, and summers are getting hotter. Athletes who do not train for the heat and humidty especially, are tying an arm behind their back or running with a shoe off-humidty and heat are a challenging competitor!
