World Masters Athletics Announce New Championship Schedule

From WMA President Margit Jungman:

Dear WMA family!

These challenging and uncertain times increase the complexities of planning our Masters events. After the cancellation of all international championships WMA and the Regions have been considering options, planning and coordinating since the pandemic affected our calendar in 2020. Starting from 2021 our schedule for WMA Championships needs to be updated. Once the plans on World level have been be finalised, revisions to affected Regional Championships will then be worked out.

I restate my deep appreciation to the team in Toronto for working so hard to offer us a fantastic Toronto2020. We were all very sad to accept that the LOC had to then completely cancel as it was not possible to find alternative dates for our championship.

Losing the Stadia Championship 2020 meant WMA needed to find a replacement. After some reflection, Tampere, Finland volunteered to assess whether they could change the planned 2021 EMA Championships to a WMA Championship. I am pleased to announce they are ready to agree to host our WMA championship in 2021.

We now start the final negotiations to make it happen. As soon as the change is confirmed we will inform you.

The Tampere team is very conscious of the difficult situation around the world and recognizes the challenges of hosting this event for thousands of participants and visitors. Their plan includes using two competition venues and one training facility. Championship dates will be around when the EMA Championship was planned from 3-10 July 2021, with some days probably added beforehand.

The consequences of this solution means that the planned indoor championships in Edmonton 2021 will move to 2022 and the stadia championship in Gothenburg will move to 2023. Both organisers are aware of the changed dates and have agreed. The Bid for 2023 indoor and 2024 stadia championships then needs to change to 2024 and 2025 respectively. The vote for these two championships would have been at the General Assembly in Toronto this summer. We have received bids for these championships and have no plans to reopen bidding at this time. The vote and all other WMA business usually conducted at the General Assembly, including votes on rule changes and Officers, will need to be done at the General Assembly in Tampere in 2021. The following General Assembly will be in Gothenburg 2023. But as soon as the WMA Council is able to make its final decision we will provide information about the next formal steps.

Please wait for those final decisions. It has been too long since we have been together. We are all awaiting our next meeting.

From President Margit Jungman