Update 14th February 2020:
The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) has verified changes to the Equestrian (Eventing Cross Country) competition schedule.
The start time of the Equestrian (Eventing Cross Country) taking place on Sunday 2 August, will change from 08:30 to 07:45.
This change was discussed with relevant stakeholders including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body of equestrian sport as part of a range of heat countermeasures being implemented during the Games. Its implementation was approved at the 11th IOC Project Review that took place in Tokyo on Thursday 13 February.
For details of the schedule changes, please see below
In addition to bringing the start time forward to 7:30am or 8am for the Eventing Cross Country at Tokyo 2020, an update issued by the FEI has confirmed that the decision to shorten the course to eight minutes has been approved
“Further to the Ready Steady Tokyo Equestrian Test event, held in August this year and during which an FEI official climate impact study and horse monitoring project took place, the FEI has decided to shorten the Olympic Eventing Cross Country course to approximately eight (8) minutes, allowing for a course of approximately 4,500 metres. The decision to shorten the course, based on advice from the Veterinary and Eventing Committees, has been approved by the FEI Board”
The cross country phase was originally specified at a distance of approximately 5,700 metres with an optimum time of approximately 10 minutes (speed: 570 metres/minute; maximum number of efforts: 38-42)
Concerns regarding heat and humidity have affected various sports at Tokyo 2020, with the location of the Marathon being completely re-located in recent months. The FEI says that “The welfare of both human and equine athletes is at the heart of the FEI’s decision-making process and these decisions have been taken to allow competing nations to optimise their performances in the Tokyo summer climate”
A final decision on the exact starting time is expected in January and further technical details on the Eventing cross country track will be released in due course.
