

'I've already bought tickets': Plan to move Tokyo 2020 marathons north sparks surprise

Runners compete in the Marathon Grand Championship, a trial race for the 2020 Olympics, near the 37-kilometer mark, in Tokyo on Sept. 15, 2019. (Pool photo)

TOKYO -- People who won the right to purchase tickets to see the men's marathon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have expressed their bewilderment at the possibility of the marathons being shifted to Sapporo in northern Japan to beat the searing summer heat.

The International Olympic Committee has detailed a plan to move both the men's and women's marathons and the race walking event to the city in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido as temperatures are expected to soar in the capital when the games are held from July 24 to Aug. 9.

Following the announcement, a stream of winners of the lottery to purchase Olympic tickets took to Twitter to express their bafflement.

"I won tickets for the men's marathon. What's going to happen now?" one user tweeted. Another tweet read, "I've already won and bought tickets to the men's marathon, so now what am I supposed to do!?"

In the first round of sales, tickets for the men's marathon have been sold at prices ranging between 2,020 and 6,000 yen, while those for the women's marathon, including other track and field events, have been sold for between 2,020 and 30,000 yen. The tickets for the race walking events have not yet been sold.

(Japanese original by Hitoshi Kurasawa, Sports News Department)

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