• IAAF criticised as marathon runners compete in 31C heat• ‘It was really scary,’ says marathon runner Lyndsay TessierThe World Athletics Championships have been branded “a disaster” by the decathlon world-record holder, Kevin Mayer, because of the sparse crowds and brutal conditions. The IAAF has also been accused of treating some of its stars as “guinea pigs” by making marathon runners and race walkers compete in 31C heat and high humidity.
Amid signs of a growing backlash, Belarus’s Volha Mazuronak, who finished fifth in the women’s marathon in the early hours of Saturday morning, claimed the sport’s governing body had shown disrespect by staging the race outdoors. Just 40 out of 68 runners finished the race, and several others were carried off the course on stretchers looking in a bad way. “The humidity kills you,” Mazuronak said. “There is nothing to breathe. I thought I wouldn’t finish. It’s disrespect towards the athletes. A bunch of high-ranked officials gathered and decided that it would take the world championships here but they are sitting in the cool and they are probably sleeping right now.”