British Indoor Champs at Emirates are cancelled due to Covid-19

Friday 22nd January 2021

Photo by Bobby Gavin

British Athletics has confirmed the cancellation of the British Athletics Indoor Championships, due to be staged at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena on the weekend of February 20/21.

The decision was taken in light of the ongoing pandemic to ensure the safety of all those due to participate; athletes, coaches, technical officials, volunteers, event and venue staff as well as protecting the Glasgow community.

At the present time, the process of testing all those attending the Championships from across the UK, seen as an essential measure, would not sufficiently mitigate the risks.

British Athletics fully recognises a wider social responsibility to reduce COVID-19 transmission and to not over-burden the NHS.

Whilst elite sport has been granted the privilege of an exemption to enable training and competition to continue, the logistics of safely staging a national championships comprising approximately 500+ attendees based across the UK and overseas need to be balanced with the risks to those involved, the local community, and the current medical climate.

With the European Indoor Championships currently scheduled to take place in Torun, Poland, on March 5-7, British Athletics acknowledges that the cohort of athletes vying for GB and NI team selection will need competition to enable qualification.

Therefore, alternative provision that enables smaller, COVID-19-compliant event qualification opportunities is being explored and will be confirmed to eligible athletes by British Athletics in due course.

Guy Learmonth won the British Indoor 800m title in Glasgow last year but this year’s event is now cancelled (photo by British Athletics/Getty Images)

Tags: British Indoor Champs