In the marathon at the Tokyo Olympic Games, 'shadows' may influence the strategy

by Quino Al

As opposed to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020, researchers analyzed the course of the marathon, which indicates that the temperature on the right side is slightly lower due to the influence of the shadow.

Thermal comfort along the marathon course of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics | Springer Link
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00484-018-1539-x

Scientists nail the coolest course for marathoners at the 2020 Olympics | Science | AAAS
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/scientists-nail-coolest-course-marathoners-2020-olympics

In May 2018, the Organizing Committee of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games announced marathon and race course.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Marathon and a race course decision! | Tokyo Olympics - Paralympic Games Organizing Committee
https://tokyo2020.org/en/news/notice/20180531-01.html

The marathon course starts around the New National Stadium and is 42.195 km around Tokyo's sights such as Asakusa Kaminarimon, Nihonbashi, Ginza, Zojoji, Tokyo Tower and the Imperial Gaien. I feel like the following.

The competition will be held in August, the hottest month of the year, and athletes need to fight not only their rivals but also the risk of heat stroke. Therefore, Professor Tsuyoshi Honjo of Chiba University and other colleagues used the temperature and humidity data of August from 2007 to 2016 to examine thermal conditions in the marathon course at the Tokyo Olympic Games and how shadows fall from adjacent buildings I investigated.

As a result, the prediction result that the runner is able to run inside the course on the right side and on the returning side on the left side will be slightly lower temperature has come out. The course is made from the west to the east, because the shadow of the building falls mainly to the right.

The temperature at the start of the competition is 26 to 28 degrees and the temperature is expected to rise over several hours afterwards, but if you continue to run on the right side of the course, the temperature experienced by the runner may be as low as 8 degrees Researchers are predicting that there is. The researchers also stated that "it is safer to stop marathons by 9 o'clock in the morning or to do it after 19 o'clock."