Tokyo delay will be relief, says Lord Coe

Lord Coe says the decision to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics has saved athletes from mental turmoil.

The Games have been postponed until next year in a decision supported by Coe.

“We didn’t want to have the athletes in a position where they were countering government advice, maybe even breaking the law,” the World Athletics president told Talksport.

“And of course in the back of their minds was always that concern, it wasn’t just their own training programme, but that they ran the risk of infecting themselves, their families, their kids, grandparents or parents. We just wanted to take them out of that mental turmoil as quickly as we possibly could.

“We’re no different from everyone else out there but I think we just concluded that sport, on this occasion, had to take a back seat.”

● Fife AC’S Anna Hedley’s progress has been recognised in the new British Cross-country Challenge standings.

The overall tables were published following the recent Inter-counties XC event at Loughborough.

Hedley is currently second in the U17 women’s table, with three other Scots – Julia Cash of Giffnock North AC, Pippa Carcas of Edinburgh AC and Anya Maclean of Garscube – also making the top 10.

Hedley’s club-mate Isla Thoms is fifth in the U15 girl’s age group.

Dundee University student Christian Graham (Lasswade) was ninth in the U20 men’s standings.

Megan Keith (Inverness H.) and Cera Gemmell (Team East Lothian) were the top two in the final table in the U20 women’s category.

At senior level there was a fifth-place finish for Jonny Glen (Inverclyde AC) and 10th for Kayleigh Jarrett (Shettleston) in the senior women’s division.