US Indoor Track Championships canceled due to COVID-19

FILE – Willy Fink, Josh Thompson and Garrett O’Toole compete in the Men’s 1500 Meter final during the 2020 Toyota USATF Indoor Championships at Albuquerque Convention Center on February 15, 2020 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP

This year’s US Indoor Track and Field Championships, planned for next month in New Mexico, has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, USA Track and Field announced.

The meet was to have been contested on February 20-21 at Albuquerque. Also called off were combined events to be conducted as a part of the meet.

USA Track’s working group of medical and scientific experts had been working on safety protocols.

But according to a statement from the governing body, “it has become apparent that statewide restrictions in New Mexico and other logistical challenges for the event are too severe to overcome.”

This will be the first year the event is not staged since its inception in 1958.

Among those who won’t have the chance to defend titles this year is Ryan Crouser, the reigning Olympic shot put champion who won US indoor crowns in 2019 and 2020.

The 2020 World Indoors that had been rescheduled for March 2021 in China were postponed again last month to 2023.

A World Athletics Indoor Tour meet is set for February 13 at Boston, having been rescheduled in December after the Millrose Games in New York were canceled. Other meets in the series will be staged in Germany, France, Poland and Spain.