Olympic marathon events to use ice bags amid broiling heat

The Tokyo Games organising committee chose ice bags for wet sponges, often used for marathon races for cooling participating athletes, in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection. Like elsewhere in Japan, Hokkaido is seeing a surge in new COVID-19 cases.

The northern city, far away from Tokyo, has been picked as the venue for the Olympic marathon instead of the Japanese capital, which tends to be hit by scorching heat in summer.

But Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, has recently been crippled by broiling heat, with temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius or higher for 15 successive days through Wednesday, near the record 17 straight days marked in 1924, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency's Sapporo Regional Headquarters.

The women's marathon will take place Saturday and the men's race Sunday, the final day of the Tokyo Olympics, with each event featuring up to 80 runners.

A total of 3,040 plastic bags containing crushed ice will be made available at nine of the 14 water stations on both days.

Such ice bags are seen lowering the risk of COVID-19 transmission compared with the use of wet sponges, according to the committee.

With extremely hot days continuing, an ice bath will also be prepared at Odori Park, where the marathon races start and finish.

"We will run the events safely and securely, including for the health of athletes," a committee official said.