Next year’s Tokyo Marathon has been rescheduled from 7 March to 17 October because of continuing concerns around the coronavirus crisis.
Around 38,000 runners are set to take part in the race but restricted entry into Japan and rules around big events has seen the race pushed back.
The pandemic forced the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to be postponed by a year.
The Games are set to start on 23 July, 2021, and last month organisers said they had to go ahead “at any cost”.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has also said the Games will go ahead next year “with or without Covid”.
However, earlier in the year, IOC president Thomas Bach said he understood why Japan may want to cancel the Olympics.
His comments came after Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe admitted it may be “difficult” to stage the Games if the country does not successfully contain the virus, and the head of the Japan Medical Association suggested it depended on finding a vaccine.
Tokyo is host to one of the six World Marathon Majors along with Boston, Berlin, Chicago, New York and London.
The 2020 event in the Japanese capital took place on 1 March and was an elite-only event, as was last weekend’s London Marathon, which was held around St James’s Park.
However, this year’s races in Boston, Berlin, Chicago and New York were all cancelled.
