RIO 2016 Olympic Games to have finals in the morning sessions

For the first time at an Olympic Games since 1988, the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will feature finals during the morning sessions of the athletics programme, the IAAF announced today.

The full detailed competition programme will be released shortly but the IAAF Council approved the decision to have finals in the morning.

“Staging finals in the morning was done at the request of the Rio LOC and the Olympic Broadcasting Service, supported by the International Olympic Committee. Having finals in the morning will also ensure that we receive maximum visibility for athletics at the Olympics across all time zones,” said IAAF Competitions Director Paul Hardy.

“There will be 13 finals in the mornings: the five road events (three race walks and two marathons) and also eight events in the stadium.

“Out of those eight, there will be an even split between genders as well as between track and field events.

“The first final in the morning will be the women’s 10,000m on the opening day. We are obviously hoping that this will be an exciting race and set the tone for the whole of the athletics programme in Rio.

“Our prevailing view was that the leading distance runners will welcome this change to the athletics programme at the Olympics as they will often have competitions throughout the year in the morning, such as road or cross country races, and so will be accustomed to this timing,” added Hardy.

Hardy confirmed that here will be at least one final in each of the six morning sessions held in the stadium and at least one final in the morning of nine out of the 10 days of athletics competition.

Source: IAAF.org