MARK English’s new qualification period for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – which will now take place in 2021 – has been paused until December.
World Athletics has announced that no standards set between now and November 30, 2020 will count towards reaching the next Olympic Games.
Rather, the qualification period will now resume on December 1 and the qualification period will last until June 29, 2021.
The coronavirus pandemic resulted in the Olympics being pushed back by 12 months.
Three-time European medalist English, who recently aligned with Finn Valley AC back in Donegal, is aiming to book his place in Tokyo.
Finn Valley race-walker Brendan Boyce has already sealed his place at the Games, while Letterkenny AC’s Annmarie McGlynn has expressed a hope of making it to Tokyo.
Like English, McGlynn will now hope to make a mark in the new qualification period, but the marathon deadline is May 31, 2021.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said: “I am grateful for the detailed work and feedback from our Athletes’ Commission and Council, who believe suspending Olympic qualification during this period gives more certainty for athlete planning and preparation.
“It is the best way to address fairness in what is expected to be the uneven delivery of competition opportunities across the globe for athletes, given the challenges of international travel and government border restrictions.”
These revised qualification dates are solely for athletics competitions.
Others, such as Chloe Magee and Sam Magee, are not affected with the badminton federation to announce their revised schedule in due course and the same will be true for Marlin’s Swimming Club’s Mona McSharry, who also has her eyes on an Olympic spot.
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