CP Qualified cooling down at the end of the cross country at CHIO Aachen in 2016. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are likely to see much warmer weather compared to European events.

© Roger Fitzhardinge

By Equestrian Life

The cross country phase of the eventing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will start earlier than originally planned in an attempt to lessen the impact of extreme heat on the athletes - both horse and human.

Originally set to begin at 8.30am, the cross country will now kick off between 7.30am and 8am, concluding by 11.10am.

IOC sports director Kit McConnell said the time was decided to protect the welfare of the horses.

A decision on the confirmed time was made during a two-day IOC project review, which concluded Friday.

"This change was discussed with relevant stakeholders including the IOC and the International Equestrian Federation as part of a range of heat countermeasures being implemented during the Games," Tokyo 2020 said in a statement.

Equestrian is not the only sport to see a revised start time due to heat. Distance track and field races, rugby sevens, triathlon and mountain biking has been revised, while the marathon has been moved more than 800km from Tokyo to Sapporo.

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