Thunderstorm forces delay of race walk at athletics worlds

The start of the first medal event at the world athletics championships, the men's 20 kilometres race walk, has been pushed back by two hours owing to adverse weather on Saturday.

A thunderstorm in the Hungarian capital made organizers decide to delay the start of the event on a course in the city centre. According to forecasts, the adverse weather was to last around 90 minutes.

The first session in the stadium was then also pushed back by one hour owing to the conditions, featuring the first heptathlon disciplines, heats and other qualifying rounds.

Three further finals were scheduled for the evening session on the opening day: the women's 10,000m, the men's shot put and the mixed 4x400m relay.

Some 2,000 athletes from 200 countries are competing for 49 gold medals at the Budapest championships which run until August 27.