Olympic qualification for the marathon and avenue race stroll events can re-start from Sept. 1, three months in advance than formerly announced, the sport’s governing body World Athletics dominated on Tuesday.
However, qualifying for all other song and area occasions at next 12 months’s Tokyo Games could continue to be suspended till Nov. 30 as firstly planned, it said in a statement.
Qualification turned into put on keep in early April because of the novel coronavirus pandemic which has prompted the Games to be postponed for one year until July/August next 12 months.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe stated the change became wished for avenue athletes because of a lack of qualifying possibilities.
“Most of the most important marathons have already been cancelled or postponed for the the rest of this year and the evolution of the pandemic makes it tough to are expecting if the ones scheduled for the first half of of subsequent yr can be able to cross in advance,” Coe said.
“That state of affairs, blended with the reality that staying power athletes within the marathon and race walks can most effective produce a completely limited wide variety of excellent performances a year, could truely slender their qualifying window without this adjustment.”
Organisers of the London Marathon, due to take vicinity on Oct. Four, had been organized to assist athletes from around the arena tour to the event acquire an Olympic qualifying time, World Athletics said.
It changed into also running with organisers of the Abu Dhabi marathon, scheduled for Dec. 11, to look if they may provide comparable opportunities, and hoped there might be at least two race-strolling activities among September and November.
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