The World Athletics Championships return to Tokyo this weekend, four years after the city hosted the pandemic-delayed Olympics of 2021. The event began on Saturday, September 13, and would run through Sunday, September 21, drawing more than 2,000 athletes from 200 nations. It is the 20th edition of the championships, a competition that has taken place every two years since 1991. Japan, which outbid Nairobi, Singapore, and Chorzów for the right to host, now becomes the first country to stage the championships on three occasions, following Tokyo in 1991 and Osaka in 2007.

Yet, despite the scale of the competition, it is not medals alone that dominate conversation. The weather forecast, track conditions, and their direct effect on athlete performance are emerging as defining themes of the To

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