The Tokyo 2020 Olympic games are tipped to be the 'hottest ever' so how will kiwi athletes prepare for such testing conditions?
Many of our top Olympic athletes are undergoing brutal training sessions inside a sweltering heat chamber to prepare for next year's Games in Tokyo.
It's part of a wide ranging strategy that High Performance Sport New Zealand hope will help combat the extreme weather conditions expected, and ultimately provide awinning edge.
Competitors at the 2020 Games are likely to face the hottest conditions in the event's history.
Summer temperatures in the Japanese capital can reach 38C and are exacerbated by high humidity levels.
Teams at the Rugby World Cup have struggled in the hot, sticky conditions, with the All Blacks' evening match with Canada on Wednesday the most recent example.
But it's mid-spring in the Asian nation, while the Games will held at the height of summer in July.
"It's going to be a major challenge for most of the athletes and it is a serious thing for us to get right," said Julia Casadio, from High Performance Sport New Zealand.
Casadio, who is leading the heat strategy for HPSNZ, says the plan is two fold; to enable athletes to perform at their best and maximise the chance of success and also to "make sure people don't end up in the medical tent" with heatstroke or other afflictions.
The chamber, at the Millennium Institute on Auckland's North Shore, is large for three stationary bikes.
Various heat and humidity combinations can be created inside to replicate the searing conditions expected in Tokyo, and it's hoped that the time inside will lead to physiological and thermoregulatory adaptations, which ultimately deliver physical and mental benefits.
Sailor Sam Meech is spending time in the heat chamber. Photo / Yachting NZ
"It's about the adaptions they are getting while they are in the heat," said Casadio. "A reduction in their core temperature, an increase in the sweat rate — if you are sweating more essentially, you can cool faster.
"Also a reduction in heart rate [so] a given effort feels easier, then you are more comfortable mentally and physically and you are able to perform in the heat."
Organisers of the 2020 Games have already flagged their concerns about the potential weather implications, and would have preferred to stage the event in another month.
"We are not optimistic about the summer weather in Tokyo, particularly as we observed last year the highest recorded temperature in the history of Japan," local organising committee spokesman Masa Takaya told the Herald in March.
They are doing as much as they can to mitigate the effects, including covering more than 100km of roads around Tokyo (including the marathon and race walking course) with heat reducing paint.
But it's a unique challenge. The 1964 Tokyo Games were held in October. The 2008 Olympics (August) had some hot days, but Beijing is generally cooler. Atlanta in 1996 was also unforgiving, but Tokyo will be worse.
Laser sailor Sam Meech said time inside the "sweat box" was a key component of their build-up.
"At the start of the cycle, we [identified] that this is one of the key things for performance come Tokyo," said Meech. "It is one of the priorities. Heat can take it out of you physically and mentally, so it's about giving yourself the best chance. If it's a really hot day, the training we do here could make all the difference."
Meech admitted sailors have an advantage over other sports — with the breeze off the water — but a recent test event in Tokyo demonstrated they won't be spared.
"We've had some days that feel exactly like this," said Meech. "We have done the first race and I'm sitting in the bottom of the boat, hoping we don't have to do another one. You are doing everything you can to cool down, and that is exactly the day we are preparing for."
The sailors will complete daily 60-90 minute sessions in two-week blocks. There are varying schedules for other key sports, mostly dependent on the length of their event.
