Athletics World has rescheduled this month’s World Half Marathon Championships to be held in Poland due to coronavirus.
The 21km distance race was to be held on 29th March in Gdynia City has been moved to October due to uncertainty surrounding the spread of the disease.
Today, they sent a statement saying they had reached the decision in consultation with the mayor of the competition’s host city of Gdynia.
“It is with regret that we have agreed with the Mayor of Gdynia and the organisers of the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020 (29 March) to postpone this event until October this year, due to the ongoing uncertainty created by the spread of new Coronavirus internationally,” the World Athletics statement said.
“The current international situation would have seriously compromised the event at this time as many countries are now restricting international travel, invoking quarantines and advising citizens and event organisers to avoid mass gatherings.
“First and foremost we had to consider the health and well-being of our athletes, officials and spectators in making this decision.
“The advice from our medical team, who are in contact with the World Health Organisation, is that the spread of the Coronavirus is at a concerning level in many countries and all major gatherings should be reviewed,” the statement said.