In the light of the rapid spread worldwide of COVD-19, the Executive Board of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) has decided to suspend all activities until 30th April. The measure includes the suspension of all the competitions in the World Triathlon calendar, courses, camps and other activities.
It therefore involves the pause of all the World Ranking, Olympic Qualification Ranking, Paratriathlon Ranking and Paralympic Qualification Rankings, which are immediately frozen, effective from Monday 16th March 2020.
ITU World Triathlon President and IOC member, Marisol Casado, said “This is a decision that is hard to take, and you can have my word that we are taking it with the health and safety of athletes, coaches, officials, facilitators, staff, volunteers and spectators, all the triathlon family, as the top priority.
“We are taking this decision convinced that we all have to take our part to prevent and stop the spread of the virus. It is our responsibility, as a society. And having our athletes, coaches, officials and staff travelling around the world at this challenging time is not something that we in World Triathlon are willing to risk.”
All events in the World Triathlon and Continental calendars will be immediately postponed until further notice. ITU strongly recommends all affiliated national federations to extend the measures as well in their territories, to avoid spreading the virus. All World Triathlon staff will be working from home during the coming weeks.
World Triathlon will continue working during this time to try to reallocate the events after 30th April when possible and will work with all stakeholders to undertake further actions if needed regarding the Olympic and Paralympic qualification rankings.
World Triathlon adds that it will continue evaluating the situation on a daily basis and will announce any further change in the situation as soon as possible to all stakeholders when this happens.
