diff --git a/stdlib/3/asyncio/runners.pyi b/stdlib/3/asyncio/runners.pyi
index 0293fd9b133a..1628cb3e89f1 100644
--- a/stdlib/3/asyncio/runners.pyi
+++ b/stdlib/3/asyncio/runners.pyi
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 import sys
 
 if sys.version_info >= (3, 7):
-    from typing import Awaitable, TypeVar
+    from typing import Awaitable, Optional, TypeVar
 
     _T = TypeVar("_T")
-    def run(main: Awaitable[_T], *, debug: bool = ...) -> _T: ...
+    if sys.version_info >= (3, 8):
+        def run(main: Awaitable[_T], *, debug: Optional[bool] = ...) -> _T: ...
+    else:
+        def run(main: Awaitable[_T], *, debug: bool = ...) -> _T: ...
diff --git a/tests/stubtest_whitelists/py38.txt b/tests/stubtest_whitelists/py38.txt
index b3b48d0cb1ff..d2a5f329a6f0 100644
--- a/tests/stubtest_whitelists/py38.txt
+++ b/tests/stubtest_whitelists/py38.txt
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ asyncio.events.AbstractEventLoop.sock_sendfile
 asyncio.futures.Future.__init__
 asyncio.futures.Future._callbacks
 asyncio.proactor_events._ProactorBasePipeTransport.__del__
+asyncio.run  # Bugfix involving this was backported to 3.8
+asyncio.runners.run  # It just hasn't been released yet
 asyncio.threads  # Added in Python 3.9
 builtins.dict.get
 collections.AsyncGenerator.ag_await