The New Olympic Marathon Course Has Been Unveiled – Runner’s World

• The course for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic marathon was unveiled Thursday at its new location in Sapporo.
• Heat concerns caused the men’s and women’s races to be moved out of the host city in Tokyo to the site of the 1972 Winter Olympics.
• The Olympics begin on July 24 and run through August 9.

The Tokyo Olympics marathon course has been unveiled after its move out of the host city to Sapporo, from Tokyo 2020, the organizing group for the 2020 Olympics Games.

Both the men’s and women’s races will now follow a three-loop course, starting in the city’s famous Odori Park. The race will begin with two laps around the park before heading onto the streets for a three-loop course—the first loop will be roughly a half marathon followed by two shorter loops on a 10K section of the first loop—before finishing back in the park.

Throughout the course, runners will pass landmarks of the city, including Sapporo TV Tower, the Toyohira River (originally known as the Sapporo River, which gave the city its name), and Hokkaido University, one of Japan’s former imperial universities, originally founded in 1876.

Olympic Committee

This is a drastic change from the , which would have taken runners through the city with three hairpin turns on the course before returning to the finish. The elevation profile for that course had only two hills—one that descended roughly 100 meters at the start and then going back up that in the final mile to the finish. The rest of the course between the two hill segments was relatively flat.

No elevation profiles have been released for the Sapporo course, but based on the , which takes place on a fairly similar course, the route includes a 5K climb covering 100 feet of elevation before flattening out and not returning to that section for the final two loops.

In addition, temperatures will vary drastically from those in Tokyo, with Sapporo expected to be as much as five to six degrees cooler. Tokyo’s temperatures would have been more similar to the summer heat in Atlanta where the men’s and women’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials are set to take place on a likely cooler day of February 29.

“Developing courses for the Olympic marathon and race walk events is always an exciting challenge to achieve a balance of athlete welfare, showcasing the city, ensuring technical and broadcast requirements are met, and providing a great backdrop for spectators to enjoy the Olympic experience,” World Athletics Technical Delegate and Council Member Sylvia Barlag said in a press release. “We have achieved this in Sapporo.”

The decision to officially relocate the races was finalized earlier this month, and the course was voted on and approved on Thursday by the International Olympic Committee.

Olympic officials first announced a potential move back in October because of the rising heat concerns that were anticipated for the summer distance events. Despite Tokyo’s attempts for years leading up to the Olympics to create cooler conditions for athletes and spectators, the Olympic Committee deemed it too dangerous and opted for the new location, roughly five hours north of Tokyo.

Despite to keep the event in Tokyo, the IOC, World Athletics (the governing body of international track and field), Tokyo 202o, and Sapporo authorities worked together to create the new course in hopes that the marathoners will not have to endure conditions like this past summer at the World Championships in Dubai.

“The course’s opening laps in Sapporo Odori Park will set the Sapporo cityscape as a fitting backdrop for the runners, sharing its charms with fans around the world,” Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto . “In addition to discussions with World Athletics and the IOC, which took place throughout the course finalization process, I thank the city of Sapporo and Hokkaido Prefecture for their invaluable support. We will continue to work closely with all parties concerned to ensure the marathons and race walks in Sapporo are a success.”

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics begin on July 24. The women’s and men’s marathons will take place on August 8 and August 9, respectively.

Gear & News Editor Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand.