GDYNIA, Poland, Mar 6 – World Athletics on Friday evening announced that the World Half Marathon Championship set for March 29 in Gdynia, Poland will be postponed to October due to the ongoing uncertainty created by the spread of Coronavirus internationally.
In a statement, World Athletics says it had made the decision after discussions with the Mayor of Gdynia.
“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 organizers to avoid mass gatherings,” the statement stated.
Adding; “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 Organization, is that the spread of the Coronavirus is at a concerning level in many countries and all major gatherings should be reviewed.
This comes just after Kenya announced the cancellation of the Magical Kenya Open over the same reason while the beach volleyball team has been restrained from travelling to Nigeria for the Olympic qualifiers.
There have been increased fears over the fate of the Summer Olympics set for Tokyo, Japan in July, but organizers hope that the virus will have been contained by then.
Kenya had already selected its team for the World Half Marathon Championship led by three-time champion Geoffrey Kamworor leading the charge.
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