COVID-19 crisis: Diamond League postpones June meetings

The organisers on Thursday postponed meetings scheduled for June in the U.S. city of Eugene and in Paris.

Noah Lyles and Justin Gatlin compete in the men's 100m sprint during the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Zurich, in August, 2019. The next meeting is scheduled for July 4 in London.

The organisers of athletics’ Diamond League on Thursday postponed meetings in the U.S. city of Eugene and in Paris in June as the season is pushed further back by the coronavirus pandemic. The Eugene meeting had been due to take place on June 7 with Paris on June 13.

“As with previous suspensions, this decision was reached in close consultation with all relevant parties and based on concerns over athlete safety as well as widespread travel restrictions which make it impossible to stage the competitions as planned,” the organisers said in a statement.

'Alternative competition'

But the Bislett Games in Oslo, one of the longest-standing meetings on the international calendar, will take place on June 11, albeit in a different format from the Diamond League meeting originally planned on that date. The event will be “an alternative athletics competition under Norwegian coronavirus regulations,” organisers said.

The Diamond League said new dates for the suspended events “will be announced... as soon as the extraordinary global situation makes a reliable plan possible.”

The next Diamond League meeting remaining on the calendar is London on July 4.