It has been learned that the JAAF, which hopes to host the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, has changed its rules regarding competition facilities in order to make it possible to hold international competitions like the World Championships at the National Stadium, the main stadium for last year’s Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The new rule change states, “Facilities that have been used to host the Olympic Games can be recognized as a Class 1 Certified Athletics Facility even without a warm-up track.”
It also states, “For specific competitions, the Technical Regulations shall determine the specific requirements for the competition including training and warm-up facilities. In agreement with the appropriate athletics authority, the organizers of a competition may make exceptions to the respective Construction Category.”
Apart from the facilities in the stadium itself, there is a 200 m track across the street from the National Stadium, and Oda Field, an 8-lane 400 m track currently undergoing extensive renovations for the second time in the last few years, is located 2 km from the National Stadium with easy major road access. As such, if Coe and WA intend to give Tokyo the 2025 World Championships then it looks possible to make it happen without having to rebuild the warm-up track, despite the benefits a permanent warm-up track would bring and the demand for public-access track facilities in central Tokyo.
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translated and edited by Brett Larner
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