The International Association of Athletics Federations is using pill thermometers to monitor marathon runners and race walkers at the World Athletic Championships in Doha, Qatar. The aim of using the ingestible thermometers is so that IAAF medical staff can learn more about athletes’ reactions to extreme heat.
The start time of the women’s marathon was moved to midnight on Friday to try to avoid soaring daytime temperatures, but the thermometer was still reading around 90 degrees as the runners began. Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich would go on to win, followed by Rose Chelimo of Bahrain, and Helalia Johannes of Namibia. “I cannot say I enjoyed the event,” Johannes told The New York Times afterwards.
The men’s marathon is due to take place at 11:59 p.m. local time this Saturday.
“This has given us the opportunity and conditions for our medical teams and science teams to understand a great deal more about management of heat for athletes going forward,” said IAAF president Sebastian Coe on Thursday, according to Reuters. “I am pleased we have been able to use these conditions to understand how in future we really can take our sport into areas of climatic challenge.”
Coe said that the data collected will help the IAAF prepare for next year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. This summer, one year out from the Games, temperatures in Tokyo were up above 88 degrees. Qatar is also scheduled to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in just over three years from now. That event has already been moved from summer to winter in order to avoid heat that can top 110 degrees, but in November and December temperatures there can still reach more than 80.
