Tokyo Olympics: Assessing what the delayed Games means for track and field's biggest stars

Good or bad? Mondo Duplantis was in great form and favourite for gold - but at 20 could be even better next year
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Olympic dreams are on hold for thousands of athletes around the world after the Tokyo Games were postponed until 2021 because of the global coronavirus pandemic earlier this week.

There is almost universal agreement that the right decision has been made, but that doesn't mean it won't have significant impacts - good and bad - on some of sport's biggest names and their hopes of glory.

Here, we take a pick out some of the track and field elite who could be affected...

The Brits

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Britain’s greatest track and field Olympian has ditched his marathon endeavours in a bid to become the first man to win three successive 10,000m titles at the Games.

Just by lining up, Farah was already set to become the oldest man ever to even run in an Olympic final at the distance, so the postponement tilts history a little further against him.

In all likelihood the six-time world champion will be 38 by the time the Games come around, whereas some of his big rivals, the likes of Joshua Cheptegei and Yomif Kejelcha, who took gold and silver at last year’s World Championships in Doha, are still in their early twenties.

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The postponement of the Games might be frustrating for an athlete whose career trajectory has been on an unstoppable upwards trajectory over the past two seasons, but there are potential benefits for Asher-Smith.

While the Brit will hope to improve further over the next twelve months, the woman who beat her to 100m gold in Doha, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, may be heading in the opposite direction, turning 34 at the end of this year. Indeed, Asher-Smith could arrive with a better chance in the shorter distance than the one at which she is world champion, given Shaunae Miller-Uibo intends to go for 200m glory.

There’s also the knock-on effect of the 2021 World Championships potentially being pushed back to 2022 – during the peak years of her mid-to-late twenties, Asher-Smith could run at major global outdoor championships in five straight seasons.

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Reekie’s emergence onto the global scene this year happened almost overnight as she broke the British indoor record over 800m in Glasgow before running the fifth-fastest indoor mile in history in New York.

Those performances set off talk of Olympic glory, but the 22-year-old remains a raw talent – she failed to get out of her heat at the World Championships and has only run twice in Diamond League races outside the UK.

A decimated fixture list this year would have meant Reekie arriving in Tokyo still short on experience, but with another season behind her, including a possible tilt at a medal at the rearranged World Indoor Championships next March, the Scot should be a more rounded contender, alongside training partner Laura Muir.

Global stars

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The most successful female track and field athlete in Olympic history, 34-year-old Felix was expected to bow out of the sport following the Tokyo Games, but has now confirmed that she intends to go on to 2021.

In exactly what capacity remains to be seen. The USA’s brutally competitive trials system means she has her work cut out to qualify as an individual – indeed she missed out on selection for the 400m in Doha after only finishing sixth at Nationals.

Despite that, Felix still left those championships with two gold medals, in the women’s and newly-introduced mixed 4x400m relays, and providing she can prove her form will likely be a key part of both squads again.

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The world of distance running has been looking forward to another clash between these two ever since three-time Olympic track champion Bekele went within two seconds of Kipchoge’s marathon world record in Berlin in September.

It was due to happen at the London Marathon next month, and while we may yet get to see it at the rearranged event in October, the chances of the pair continuing their rivalry on the Olympic stage have been hit by the postponement.

Though Kipchoge will still defend his title next year, Bekele will most likely be 39 by the Games, and may favour one last crack at the world record on the notoriously quick Berlin course in the autumn, particularly if he misses that race this year because of the London rescheduling.

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Having initially threatened to quit the sport after the controversial ruling that she would need to take hormone-suppressants to continue competing in her favoured middle distance events, South African star Semenya announced this month that she is switching to the 200m (where the restrictions are not in place) ahead of Tokyo.

The 29-year-old clocked an unofficial early season mark of 23.49s at a meeting in her homeland last week, well short of the 22.80s Olympic standard, but with an extra year in hand should have a much more realistic chance of making a success of the transition before the Games.

On the comeback trail

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Another South African hero, Van Niekerk put up one of the performances of the Rio 2016 Games when he broke Michael Johnson’s world record to take gold in the 400m.

He has been plagued by injuries in recent seasons, stemming from a knee problem picked up in a touch rugby game in 2017, and missed last year’s World Championships in Doha.

Like Semenya, the 27-year-old had begun his season in low-key South African meets when news of the postponement came. "I see it as more time to work,” he said. “More time to prepare, more time to invest in the rest of my career."

(Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The greatest half-miler the world has ever seen, Rudisha won gold at each of the last two Olympics. Even more so than Van Niekerk, however, the last few years have been turbulent, with a combination of injury, personal problems and an horrendous car crash meaning he hasn’t run competitively since 2017.

The world record holder returned to training two-stone overweight at the end of last year, targeting a Tokyo comeback, and while the odds are still against him – at 32 this year – becoming the first triple Olympic champion at 800m, he at least has a little more time to play with.

The youngsters

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Few – if any – athletes in the world, in any sport, could claim to have been in better form six months out from the scheduled Games that the Swedish pole vault sensation.

Last month, ‘Mondo’ broke the world record twice in a week at indoor meets in Poland and Glasgow and looked one of the sport’s warmest favourites for gold this summer. He called the postponement “a bummer”.

The good news though, is that at 20 there would appear to be bags of improvement to come, and it would be no surprise if his current world record of 6.18m is bettered by the time we get to Tokyo next year.

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The new poster girl of American athletics, 400m hurdler McLaughlin went to the 2016 Olympics as a 16-year-old and has since confirmed her status as a freakish talent on the track and one of the most marketable athletes in the sport off it.

Her rivalry with fellow American Dalilah Muhammad was one of the great stories of last season, culminating in Muhammad breaking the world record to win gold at the World Championships, with McLaughlin having to settle for silver despite running the third fastest time in history.

If she can reverse the form and claim her first global senior title, Tokyo looks the optimum moment for McLaughlin to be launched as a truly transcendent star and at 20, the 12-month delay is likely to be more helpful than it is to 30-year-old Muhammad.

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The host nation might lack big name individual stars in the Games’ most prestigious sport, but their men’s 4x100m relay team has brought a good level of success, boasting two silver medals and a fourth-placed finish from the past three Olympics.

At last year’s World Championships they took bronze, but did so with an exciting crop of sprinters of an average age well below that of the USA and Great Britain, who took gold and silver, respectively.

Abdul Hakim Suni Brown (21) and Yuki Koike (24) both broke ten seconds for the first time last season, while Yoshihide Kiryu (24) ran 10.01. All three are likely to improve over the coming year, provided they stay fit.

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