World Athletics U20 Championships postponed by a day

Maurine Cherotich (Left) celebrates with Zenna Jeptoo after winning the 5000m women final during the Athletics Kenya Trials World U20 Championship at Kasarani stadium in Nairobi, Kenya on July 01, 2021.[Stafford Ondego,Standard]

The World Athletics U20 Championships scheduled to be held in Nairobi between August 17-22 will now begin one day later.

World Athletics Organisation said the games will now begin on Wednesday August 18 and end on Sunday August22.

The impact of Covid on teams travelling and logistics of moving vital equipment around the world have proven to be a challenge according to World athletics.

“The full athletics programme is able to be accommodated across five days rather than five-and-a-half days with minimal impact on the athletes attending from more than 100 countries.”

“The new schedule delivers a fuller and faster paced event and we are delighted that the broadcast rights for these ="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sports/athletics/2001418359/cs-world-athletics-u20-championships-will-be-spectator-free">championships have been taken up by more than 14 countries<, with 12 of them showing the event live,” said World Athletics in a press statement.

World Athletics will be livestreaming the morning and evening sessions on its YouTube channel.

“Over the past 18 months World Athletics has been determined to give athletes as many opportunities as possible to compete, despite the complex conditions the world still faces in fighting the pandemic.”

“We would like to thank our athletes and their teams, our suppliers and the local organising committee in Kenya for accommodating this change and working collaboratively in challenging times to stage a great championships for these young, promising athletes as they begin their athletics journey,” read the statement.

“The next four years offers unprecedented opportunities for these promising young athletes to move on to the senior World Championships and Olympic stages as we present World Athletics Championships in Oregon in 2022, Budapest in 2023, the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 and another World Athletics Championships in 2025 which will be awarded to a host city early next year.”

Kenya will be represented in the men’s 1,500m on Day One of the championships, with Vincent Keter and Kamar Etiang vying for a spot in the men’s final.

The men’s 5,000m, the concluding event of Day One, will also feature Levi Kibet and Benson Kiplangat, and Ngisirei feels optimistic about their chances.

Teams that have arrived are Argentina (8), Algeria (2), Canada (23), Dominican Republic (3), Czech Republic (48), and Botswana (18).