The World Triathlon Executive Board has approved the cancellation of the 2020 Tiszaujvaros and Tongyeong World Cups and the Alanya Paratriathlon World Cup, due to the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic in these countries. The Tiszaujvaros ETU European Cup and the Alanya ETU Youth European Championships Festival are also suspended.

One of the most welcomed races in the World Cup calendar for years, the traditional Tiszaujvaros Triathlon Grand Week, including the World Cup and the ETU Junior Cup, will not take place this year. The race was initially planned for July and then moved to the Autumn due to the COVID 19 outbreak. Despite the numerous efforts of the local organizing committee and the Hungarian Triathlon Association with the local authorities, the final decision was to cancel the event for 2020, hoping to be back in the calendar in 2021.

“An event with such a meaning for us and for the triathlon community as Tiszy is can only be held in stable and safe conditions, this is in the common interest of all of us. For us, the priority is to protect the health of the athletes and the local population, the sports-loving audience, and sadly in the current situation we cannot bear responsibility to hold the event in any form”, said Tibor Lehmann, event director.

The situation with the pandemic and current travel restrictions to and from Turkey has also forced the organisers of the 2020 Alanya Paratriathlon World Cup and ETU Youth European Championships Festival to cancel the event for 2020, scheduled originally for October 1-4.

A similar situation has also forced the Korean Triathlon Federation to cancel the 2020 Tongyeong World Cup, planned for October 17-18, with the aim of the event to be back in the circuit in 2021.

World Triathlon wants to express their immense gratitude to the local organisers of the three events, as well as the Hungarian Triathlon Association, the Turkish Triathlon Federation and the Korean Triathlon Federation, as well as all the local governments, for their continuous efforts on trying to put the events in place.

After the unfortunate announcement of the cancellation of the Tartu ETU Triathlon European Championships, it is also confirmed that the ETU events in Targu Mures and Constanta will not go ahead either.

With the world being impacted by the pandemic, World Triathlon staff is working with organisers and national federations on the remaining events in the calendar. For the moment, World Triathlon Hamburg, Montreal and Bermuda are still scheduled to take place in September and October, while the Karlovy Vary, Arzachena and Miyazaki World Cups are planned for the same period. More announcements and information regarding other events in the calendar will come in the next weeks.

As announced previously, the World Triathlon Executive Board voted in favour of holding the 2020 World Championships. The U23 and Junior events is planned to be held on the first weekend of November in Europe, an event that will also give the opportunity of racing to the younger athletes from Europe who couldn’t compete at the European Junior Championships in Tartu. The exact location and the detailed information are expected to be announced at the end of August.