South African 400 metres world and Olympic record holder and world and Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk competes on February 29, 2020, during the Free State Championship in Bloemfontein. (Photo by CHARL DEVENISH / AFP)
The 2021 world athletics championships will be shifted to 2022 to accommodate the re-arranged Tokyo Olympics, World Athletics said Monday.
The announcement came immediately after Olympics organizers said the 2020 Tokyo Games — postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic — will now take place on July 23-August 8, 2021.
That means the world athletics championships that were scheduled to take place in Eugene, Oregon, on August 6-15, 2021 can no longer be held on those dates.
“We support the new 2021 dates for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games announced today by the Japanese organisers and the IOC,” World Athletics said in a statement.
“This gives our athletes the time they need to get back into training and competition.
“Everyone needs to be flexible and compromise and to that end we are now working with the organisers of the World Athletics Championships in Oregon on new dates in 2022 for our World Athletics Championships.”
Track and field is the traditional centrepiece of an Olympic Games.