By Owen Morgan
Welsh athletes have started to have their plans for future events thrown into confusion by the spread of coronavirus.
Cardiff’s Jenny Nesbitt was due to compete in the World University Cross Country Championships in Morocco next month, but the event has been postponed.
Meanwhile, Swansea Harrier Josh Griffiths and Cardiff Metropolitan University student Jake Smith had been selected for the World Half Marathon Championships in Poland, which has also fallen foul of the virus.
Nesbitt was targeting a medal at the World University Cross Country Championships in Marrakech, having finished just off the podium on her previous appearance at the event.
This is the former Welsh Cross Country Champion’s final opportunity to represent Great Britain at university level due to her age.
Morocco’s Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training informed the International University Sports Federation (FISU) of the postponement.
The statement said: “In view of the latest rather worrying developments related to the coronavirus, which unfortunately affects several countries, we regret to inform you that our Ministry, in coordination with all the ministerial departments concerned, has taken the decision to postpone the organisation of the World University Cross-Country Championships to a later date which will be decided upon agreement with your authority.”
No new date for the championships has been released.
Now, World Athletics have announced the World Half Marathon Championship in Gdynia on March 29, has been put back until October 17.
Griffiths and Smith had been selected last week for the Great Britain team to travel to Poland thanks to their performances at the Vitality Big Half in London.
Smith, would have been winning his first senior Great Britain vest while Welsh international Griffiths was due to make his first GB appearance since he competed at the London World Athletics Championships marathon in 2017.
The World Athletics statement said: “It is with regret that we have agreed with the mayor of Gdynia and the organisers of the World Athletics Half-Marathon Championships to postpone this event until October this year, due to the ongoing uncertainty created by the spread of new Coronavirus internationally.
“The current international situation would have seriously compromised the event at this time as many countries are now restricting international travel, invoking quarantines and advising citizens and event organisers to avoid mass gatherings.”
The new date, Saturday, October 17, is six days after the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, and on the same weekend as the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, where Griffiths competed last year, and the TCS Amsterdam Marathon.
The World Cross Half Marathon Championships was due to form part of British Athletics’ selection process for selecting the GB half marathon team for the European Athletics Championships due to take place in Paris in August.
The events are the latest in a number of races to be postponed world-wide with more expected to follow.
Organisers of next month’s Virgin Money London Marathon, where a number of Welsh athletes are due to line-up in the elite field, not to mention many more in the massed ranks, say they are closely monitoring the situation.