Cuban relay world champion team
Havana, November 1 (JIT)-- COVID-19 continues to impact the normal course of sports. This time it causes the postponement of the World Athletics Relay World Championships in Guangzhou 2023, in China, according to the World Athletics (WA).
The incidence of the pandemic at worrying levels in the Asian Giant has caused the organizers to consider that the conditions do not exist to host an event of such magnitude in the agreed timeframe.
The event, initially scheduled for May 13-14 next year, is now moved to the 2025 calendar with a date to be set, the WA statement said.
"Regrettable when we have to postpone an event. However, World Athletics and the local organizing committee are committed to the responsible planning and execution of this relay competition, which includes ensuring that athletes from all international federations can participate and enjoy an experience in a safe and healthy environment," said WA president, Great Britain's Sebastian Coe.
This is not an isolated case, as postponements have abounded in the midst of COVID-19. Some events could not take place on the scheduled dates and others have not yet been held, such as the Nanjing 2022 World Indoor Athletics Championships in Nanjing, China, also rescheduled for 2025.
The World Cross Country Championships of Bathurst 2021, in Australia, was first changed to 2022 and it seems that it will definitely be held in 2023.
The truth is that the variation of the relay event forces to readjust the qualification system for that specialty in view of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest 2023, scheduled from 19 to 27 August.
Now, the eight finalists of each relay at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon will be taken into account, together with the eight best relay teams in the world ranking.
Cuba, which reigned with its women's 4x400 meters quartet in the universal relay event in Silesia 2021, will have to look for a valid mark to enter for the second of the options, since it did not participate in that event during the U.S. world competition.
The Cuban formation had as protagonists in the Polish city Roxana Gómez, Zurian Hechavarría, Rose Mary Almanza and Lisneidy Veitía, accompanied by the substitute Sahily Diago.
