Coronavirus: World Half Marathon Champs postponed

The 2020 World Half Marathon Championship which was scheduled for March 29 in Gdynia, Poland has been postponed to October.

World Athletics on Friday announced the development as a precaution due to the on-going global threat from the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19).

In a statement, World Athletics said it had made the hard decision after discussions with the Mayor of Gdynia and other stakeholders.

“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,” read part of the statement.

The statement went on; “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.”

This comes barely 24 hours after the 2020 Magical Kenya Open was also postponed to a later date as the novel coronavirus outbreak continue to plunge the global sporting calendar into disarray.

On Thursday, the national women’s beach volleyball team failed to travel to Nigeria for the second round of the Tokyo Olympics qualifiers as the Government continue to put travel restrictions measures to prevent the spread of the virus.