World Athletics announces qualifying period for junior, senior World Championships

World Athletics Council has approved the qualification systems for World Athletics Championships due 2022 in Oregon, United States, and World Athletics Under-20 Championships slated for Nairobi in 2021.

World Athletics Under-20 Championships were programmed from July 7 to 12 this year but later pushed to August 17 to 22 next year owing to COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

Originally, the World Championships were scheduled from August 6 to 15, 2021 but after the postponement of 2020 Summer Olympics, World Athletics rescheduled the competition to July 15 to 24, 2022.

The new qualification windows for the world junior event have been moved from between October 1, 2019 and April 5, 2020 to between December 1, 2020 and August 8, 2021.

As was the case in 2019, athletes will be able to qualify for the World Championships by achieving an entry standard or through their placing on the world rankings.

In line with the recommendation from the Race Walking Committee, approved by the Council last year and confirmed again last week, the World Championships will feature 20km and 35km race walking events for men and women in Oregon.

The qualification period for the marathon and 35km race walk opened on November 30, 2020 and ends on May 29, 2022. For the 10,000m, 20km race walk, relays and combined events, the window runs from December 27, 2020 until June 26, 2022. For all other disciplines, the qualification period is June 27, 2021 to June 26, 2022.

Defending world champions will be offered a wild card entry, as will the winners of the 2021 Diamond League, Race Walk Challenge, Combined Events Challenge and the leading hammer performers on the Continental Tour.

Area champions in selected disciplines and top-10 finishers at Platinum Label marathons during the qualification period shall also be considered as having achieved the entry standard. With the world junior event being postponed to next year, Kenya is now remaining with 15 juniors who have attained the qualifying times in various events.