The organizers of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in the United States have announced that the event will be moved forward, three weeks earlier than planned.
This is to avoid a clash with the 2022 Common Wealth Games that will hold in Birmingham.
The championships, in Eugene, Oregon, had already been pushed back a year after the postponement of this summer’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Championships will now run from 15-24 July 2022 but the dates of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games scheduled for 27 July to 7 August, remains.
The World Athletics governing body, the IAAF revealed that the new schedule for 2022 will “prevent a direct conflict between any of these major events”, adding that it will be an “extraordinary international season for athletics”.
“We would not have chosen to have three major championships back to back but it will give us a unique opportunity to promote our sport and its stars around the globe over a six-week period,” IAAF President, Lord Sebastian Coe said.
“Our guiding principle in rescheduling was to ensure enough space was created around the centrepiece World Athletics Championships for athletes to choose other major events to compete in.
“We were also very mindful that we did not want to damage the other major championships in 2022,” Lord Coe concluded.
