The World Triathlon Executive Board has approved the cancellation of the 2020 Tiszaujvaros and Tongyeong World Cups and the Alanya Paratriathlon World Cup, due to the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic.
The Tiszaujvaros ETU European Cup and the Alanya ETU Youth European Championships Festival have also been suspended.
The traditional Tiszaujvaros Triathlon Grand Week in Northern Hungary, including the World Cup and the ETU Junior Cup, will not take place this year. The race was initially planned for July and then moved to the autumn/fall due to the COVID 19 outbreak.
Despite numerous efforts of the local organizing committee and the Hungarian Triathlon Association with local authorities, the final decision was to cancel the event for 2020, hoping to be back in the calendar in 2021.
“An event with such a meaning for us and for the triathlon community as Tiszy can only be held in stable and safe conditions, this is in the common interest of all of us,” said Race Director, Tibor Lehmann.
“For us, the priority is to protect the health of the athletes and the local population, the sports-loving audience, and sadly in the current situation we cannot bear responsibly to hold the event in any form.”
The situation with the pandemic and current travel restrictions to and from Turkey has also forced the organisers of the 2020 Alanya Paratriathlon World Cup and ETU Youth European Championships Festival to cancel the event for 2020, scheduled originally for October 1-4.
A similar situation has also forced the Korean Triathlon Federation to cancel the 2020 Tongyeong World Cup, planned for October 17-18, with the aim of the event to be back in the circuit in 2021.
After the unfortunate announcement of the cancellation of the Tartu ETU Triathlon European Championships in Romania, it is also confirmed that the ETU events in Targu Mures and Constanta will not go ahead either.
With the world being impacted by the pandemic, World Triathlon staff are working with organisers and national federations on the remaining events in the calendar.
For the moment, World Triathlon Hamburg, Montreal and Bermuda are still scheduled to take place in September and October, while the Karlovy Vary, Arzachena and Miyazaki World Cups are planned for the same period. More announcements and information regarding other events in the calendar will come in the next weeks.
As announced previously, the World Triathlon Executive Board voted in favour of holding the 2020 World Championships. The U23 and Junior events are planned to be held on the first weekend of November in Europe. The exact location and further information are expected to be announced at the end of August.
