ISU cancels three skating worlds due to COVID-19 outbreak

The International Skating Union (ISU) has announced to cancel three World Championships as the worsening pandemic worldwide has made the postponement impossible.

The World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, the World Figure Skating Championships and the World Synchronised Skating Championships were originally scheduled for March 13-15 in Soul, March 16-22 in Montreal and April 3-5 in Lake Placid respectively, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Mindful of the escalating negative COVID-19 developments, the resulting worldwide human tragedy and the measures taken by the public authorities as well as logistical challenges the ISU Council during its on-line meeting held on April 16, 2020 concluded that a postponement of the pending 2020 ISU Championships is not possible," the ISU explained on Thursday, adding that the Championships therefore "must be definitely cancelled".

The ISU plans to hold another on-line meeting on April 28 to discuss the COVID-19 developments and impact on the ISU Event calendar.

"The objective is to work out and communicate to all stakeholders options suitable for different scenarios in order to limit the uncertainty to the strict minimum," it said.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the world to a standstill with all sporting activities stopped. The Tokyo Olympics had to be postponed by a year and other big tickets events like Euro2020 was also pushed back.