IAAF placing athletes in jeopardy, claims decathlon champion Mayer

Decathlon star Kevin Mayer slammed the decision to stage the World Athletics Championships in Doha on Saturday, accusing organisers of putting athletes "in jeopardy."

The 27-year-old -- Olympic silver medalist in 2016 -- said staging the championships in the heat and humidity was a "catastrophe".

Mayer was speaking after 28 of the 68 runners in the women's marathon failed to finish after wilting in weather conditions of 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and humidity of over 70%.

His stinging comments follow those of 50 kilometres walk defending champion Yohann Diniz, who accused the IAAF of treating athletes as 'idiots' for making them compete in such conditions.

Diniz -- who added the walkers were being used as "guinea pigs" -- defends his title later on Saturday, both the men and women's races get underway (2030GMT).

"Clearly by organising the championship here, they didn't put the athletes first, they've mostly put them in jeopardy," said Mayer at a press conference on ...