Tokyo Olympic Stadium to host athletics event in August

This aerial photo shows the New National Stadium, main stadium for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, in Tokyo, Tuesday, July 21, 2020. The postponed Tokyo Olympics have again reached the one-year-to-go mark.  (Kyodo News via AP)

Tokyo’s new Olympic Stadium will host its first track and field meeting on August 23, exactly two weeks after the 2020 Games’ athletics were due to end, World Athletics announced on Friday.

The field will be largely made up of Japanese or Japan-based athletes.

“Given the travel restrictions that Japan currently faces, the meeting will be largely a national competition, while a few Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes who compete for Japanese professional clubs may also take part,” global governing body World Athletics said in a statement.

It added that “five of the fastest 11 Japanese men of all time will line up in the 100 meters.”

The event will consist of nine men’s and nine women’s events, seven on the track with javelin and long jump in the fields. Because the Japanese high-school championships were canceled, the organizers plan to add one or two lanes in each track event for high-school athletes.

The stadium held its first sports event, the Emperors Cup final football match on January 1.

The Golden Grand Prix of Tokyo was originally scheduled for May 10. The athletics at the Olympics were due to run from July 24 to August 9.