Things To Look Out For During The Athletics Competition In Tokyo 2025

There will be some changes for fans when watching the athletics competition in Tokyo 2025 whether in the stadium, via television broadcast, radio or online. Some things are new, some are returns to the past, whilst others are confirmed or tweaked after successful introductions in recent competitions. We will also farewell the 20km and 35km distances for the race walks as they will be replaced by the half-marathon and marathon distances from 1.1.2026. 

There will be new arrangements for the conduct of the finals of horizontal field events (long jump, triple jump and all throws).

[This will follow the same principles used at the World Indoors in Nanjing in March 2025.]

After Round 3 of the Final, the 10 best ranked athletes after the first three rounds will continue in Round 4 – competing in the reverse order of their ranking after Round 3

After Round 4, the two lowest ranked athletes will be eliminated. The remaining 8 athletes will continue in Round 5 – competing in the same order as they did in Round 4

After Round 5, the two lowest ranked athletes will be eliminated. The remaining 6 athletes will continue in Round 6 – competing in the reverse order of their ranking after Round 5

The following Automatic Qualification Marks will apply for Tokyo 2025:

Unlike the Paris Olympic Games there will be no repechage rounds in any events nor will there be a Marathon Race Walk Mixed Relay.

But very much like as it was for Paris, 14 of the 16 teams in each of the five Relay Events earned their places from the World Relays in Guangzhou in May 2025. 

• The remaining two places were allocated to the next two teams not already qualified according to the World Athletics Top Lists for each relay. Allocation to heats and lane draws will be based on the ranking and results from those World Relays. The seeding formula used in Budapest 2023 will not be used.
• For the Mixed 4x400m there is an absolute maximum of one replacement (either male or female) between Round 1 and Final. There is no option of an additional replacement on a medical certificate as there was for Paris.

For those who don’t usually follow race walking events, here are some useful things to note:

• A Penalty Zone will be in operation for all race walking events. Therefore, an athlete will only be disqualified after receiving four Red Cards (each from a different judge).
• After the third Red Card the athlete must go to the Penalty Zone for the relevant time period:
  • 20km – 2 minutes
  • 35km – 3 minutes and 30 second
• If an athlete receives a third Red Card and it is no longer practicable to direct them to enter the Penalty Zone before the end of the race, theReferee shall add the time they would have been required to spend in the Penalty Zone to their finishing time and adjust the finishing order if necessary.
• When a Yellow Paddle is shown to an athlete it is only an advice to them that they are in danger of infringing the rules.
• Red Cards are never shown to the athletes but once sent by the judge to the chief judge they are put on the Posting Board. This is the first time the athlete or their support team will know about a Red Card. A Red Paddle shown to an athletes means they are disqualified.
• The Chief Walks Judge has the power to DQ an athlete in the last 100m of a race – irrespective of how many Red Cards, if any, they have received.
• In Tokyo we will see a return to the old format where the race walking events will start and finish in the Stadium. There will be almost four laps in the Stadium after the start or each race whilst walkers finishing their event will cover around the last 350m in the Stadium.

There will be “Hot Seating” in operation for races where there are time qualifier positions for the next round

For those fans who didn’t follow the changes introduced at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest and confirmed for Paris 2024, the following remain in operation:

• Replacements – in order, where possible, to avoid the disappointment of seeing any empty starting position in a World Championships or Olympic Games, World Athletics now has an athlete replacement system:
  • For Track Events, the replacement athletes shall be determined by the next fastest times across all of the Round 1 Heats (or Semi Finals), as the case may be.
  • For Field Events, they shall be determined by the next best performances in the combined ranking of the two pools.
  • Where applicable, ties and countback rules shall be applied.
  • Where an additional athlete has been advanced to the next round by the relevant Referee or the Jury of Appeal, no athlete shall be substituted unless a second athlete withdraws.

• Lane Draws – from 2023, the method of drawing starting positions in subsequent rounds *semi-finals and finals” of laned-events changed – best described in the following graphics – bearing in mind that in general in Tokyo it will be lanes 2 to 9 that will be used in most laned-races. Nine lanes could be used in Round 1 or where an athlete is advanced by the Referee or Jury of Appeal.

• Time Qualifiers in Middle Distance Events – there are no longer any time qualifiers from the heats of the 3000m steeplechase or the 5000m to the finals of those events. Same applies to the progression from the semi finals of the 1500m, where only the top six-placed athletes in each of the two semis will advance.

And finally, just a reminder about a few new rules that have come into play over recent years:

• Any athlete allowed to “run under protest” in a race will be shown a Red and White Card

• Pole Vaulters are no longer allowed to change the position of the uprights after the time clock has started to run for their trial – no matter how much time is left

• The composition of relay teams and the order of running now only have to be declared when the athletes arrive at the Call Room

• The order of running in the Mixed 4x400m Relay is fixed: Man-Woman-Man-Woman

• Athletes must wear the provided bib on both the front and back of their competition vest – except in jumping events where only one may be worn – either on the front or the back.

• Athletes will wear bib transponder chips in all races – with the data collected being used for a range of purposes – splits and lap scoring, event presentation and sports science information

• Both the take-off (breaking the vertical plane of the edge of the take-off board closest to the landing area) and landing in long jump and triple jump are video-judged. As a result there will be no judges with flags on the in-field for these events. Red and green lights will indicate the validity of each trial. Athletes are able to look at their take-off on the specially provided console adjacent to the runway.

Prepared by Brian Roe for Australian Athletics
Published 13/9/25