World Athletics Championships move to July 2022 to avoid Olympics clash

The world athletics championships have been moved back 11 months to July 2022 to avoid clashing with the Tokyo Olympics, which have themselves been delayed by the coronavirus outbreak, the sport’s governing body said.

World Athletics confirmed in a statement that the event, which is usually held every two years and draws around 1,800 athletes from more than 200 countries, would now take place from July 15-24 in 2022 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

National athletes including Arshad Nadeem, Olympian Mehboob Ali, Mohammad Naeem, Uzair-ur-Rehman and Samiullah were in Nanjing for training purposes.

The original dates of August 6-15 2021 would have clashed with the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics which were last month postponed by a year from the original July-August 2020 schedule.

The new dates for the worlds were chosen to avoid clashing with the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England and the European Athletics Championships in Munich. The Commonwealth Games, which draw athletes from more than 70 countries in a wide array of sports, are scheduled for July 27-August 7. The European track championships are set for August 11-21.

World Athletics said it would allow athletes to compete in all three events, where eligible.

“The World Athletics Council approved the new dates this week 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,” World Athletics said.

“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.”

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said that having the three events run consecutively over the course of a single summer would be “a bonanza for athletics fans around the world”.

“They will be treated to six weeks of absolutely first-class athletics,” said Coe. “We would not have chosen to have three major championships back-to-back but it will give us a unique opportunity to promote our sport and its stars around the globe over a six-week period.”

It will mark the first outdoor world championships held in the United States and will be the first worlds to be held in an even-numbered year. They had been held in odd-numbered years since they started in 1983.

The delay sets up track and field for a long stretch of yearly major events: The Olympics in 2021, worlds in 2022, then again in 2023 (in Budapest), followed by the Paris Olympics in 2024 and another world championships at a site still to be determined in 2025.

On Tuesday, World Athletics had announced that track and field qualification for next year’s Olympics was suspended until December 1 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“During this period, results achieved at any competition will not be considered for Tokyo 2020 entry standards or world rankings,” World Athletics said in a statement.

Qualification would restart on December 1, subject to the global situation returning to normal, and continue until the end of May for the marathon and 50-kilometre race walk or June next year for all other events, it said.

“This period gives more certainty for athlete planning and preparation and is the best way to address fairness in what is expected to be the uneven delivery of competition opportunities across the globe for athletes given the challenges of international travel and government border restrictions,” Coe said in a statement.

Competitors who have already reached the qualification standards will retain their places for the Games due to take place from July 23 to August 8 next year.