European Sprint Championships Cancelled
The European Sprint Triathlon Championships that was due to be held in Malmö, Sweden has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ETU has released a full statement on their decision.
Statement by ETU Triathlon:
Regrettably, due to the uncertainty of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Swedish Federation and Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Malmö 2020 ETU Sprint Triathlon European Championships has decided that the European Championships, due to take place from 7th – 9th Aug should be cancelled.
The impact of the Europe-wide lockdowns especially around travel restrictions imposed as a means to control the spread of the virus and upon the lack of opportunity to undertake any meaningful training has raised serious concerns on athlete participation levels at the Championships and as such the viability of the event.
Renato Bertrandi, Triathlon Europe President, stated; “We have received today the sad news from the Swedish Federation that due to Covid 19, the European Champs due for the second week of August have to be cancelled.
We are really sorry but we do understand the situation. Malmö has had a very professional approach to ensure they could deliver a great European Championships by organising European Cups since 2016. We know that Malmö and the Swedish Federation are very disappointed to have to cancel and we are hoping that they will bid again for our Events in the coming years.”
Jesper Svensson, President of Swedish Triathlon Federation stated; “Of course, we find this decision very sad, especially since after years of preparatory work we would finally have the pleasure of welcoming participants from all over Europe to a fantastic European championship in Malmö, a real triathlon party. We hope that in the future we will have this opportunity again.”
The ETU wants to thank and offer our sympathy and support to the Swedish Federation for all the hard work and effort they have already made to deliver the event and acknowledge the disappointment they feel when having to cancel.
