The heat is on at athletics worlds - quite literally

By John Bagratuni Aug 25, 2007, 4:08 GMT

Osaka, Japan - The men's marathon on Saturday was the hottest in world championship history and as a result the slowest and most brutal as well.

The winning time of 2 hours 15 minutes 59 seconds from Kenyan Luke Kibet was in fact the slowest at a big event in 39 years since Mamo Woilde needed 2:20:26 in the high altitude of the Olympic race in Mexico City 1968.

Temperatures were in the high 20s at the start and soared to 33 celsius at the finish, higher than the 30 at the 1999 race in Seville, Spain.

'The runners were almost killing each other to get the water bottles,' said Spain's Juan Manuel Martinez, who finished 10th.

German Uli Steidl collapsed after finishing 37th while at least one other runner was stretchered off during the 42.195km.

'The conditions were brutal, that also shows in the winning time. A marathon can't be any more extreme than this one,' said German marathon coach Detlev Uhlemann.

The hot and humid weather in Osaka was a concern from the outset and the ruling body IAAF on August 6 even issued an unprecedented health advisory athletes were strongly urged to read.

'Athletes must be very careful when competing in Osaka. The climatic heat stress of Osaka's semi-tropical summer will make conditions quite difficult, particularly in distance events,' the advisory said, urging acclimatising and hydration.

There were suggestions to start the marathon one hour earlier than the planned 7 am, but that was eventually not the case. Instead, more medical personnel were on hand at the course and more drinks were provided as well.

Only 57 of the original 92 runners finished, with at least one athlete taken away on a stretcher. In addition, several runners also quit during the women's 3,000m steeplechase heats later in the morning.

'It is only a matter of time until you collapse in these extreme weather conditions,' said German team doctor Uwe Wegner.

At least there were no scenes like at the women's marathon at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles where Gabriela Andersen-Schiess of Switzerland tumbled towards the finish line completely dehydrated.

Kibet said that he 'felt comfortable despite the hot weather' while another Swiss, Viktor Rothlin, defied the conditions by taking the bronze on Saturday even though his home country is not exactly a tropical one.

Rothlin said he got used to the conditions by running a half-marathon in New York three weeks ago and then training in Kobe close to Osaka afterwards.

But he suffered as well before being awarded with the bronze.

'The heat was brutal. My head was hurting badly and I had stomach problems because I was drinking a lot,' Rothlin said.