World Athletics C’ships moved ahead to avoid clash with Tokyo Games

Paris, April 9 (IANS) The World Athletics Championships have been rescheduled to 15-24 July in 2022, following the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Championships were originally scheduled for 6-15 August, 2021 in Oregon, but have been rescheduled to the following year to avoid a clash with the Olympic and Paralympic Games, sport’s governing body said on Wednesday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Tokyo 2020 had announced the Olympics would run from July 23 to August 8 next year with the Paralympics following from August 24 to September 5.

The new dates for the Oregon Championships have been approved after extensive discussions with the sport’s stakeholders including organisers of two other major championships due to take place in July-August 2022, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and the multisport European Championships in Munich.

The new schedule will prevent a direct conflict between any of these major events and, with careful programming, will ensure athletes can compete in up to three world-class competitions.

“This will be a bonanza for athletics fans around the world,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said.

“We were also very mindful that we did not want to damage the other major championships in 2022, because they are also very important to our sport,” he added.

–IANS

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