LEN, the governing body for the major aquatics disciplines in Europe, has cancelled aloof its European Junior Championships for 2020, as well as the remaining summer and fall legs of the LEN Open Water Cup.
The LEN Bureau met via videoconference to decide on the fate of the events, and opted to cancel. The European Junior Championships are held annually, so there was little room for a postponement.
Cancelled European Junior Events:
- European Junior Swimming Championships – July 8th-12th, Aberdeen, Scotland
- European Junior Diving Championships – June 30th-July 5th, Edinburgh, Scotland
- European Junior Artistic Swimming Championships – June 24th-28th, 2020, Malta
- European Junior Open Water Swimming Championships – France
- Women’s European U19 Water Polo Championships – August 23rd-30th, Rome, Italy
- Men’s European U19 Water Polo Championships – September 6th-13th, Volos, Greece
While many of these events have very tight time windows for competition, including some as small as 2 years, LEN technical committees for each sport will be able to propose an extension of the competition window for those who age out on a sport-by-sport basis.
“Due to Covid-19 crisis in Europe, the LEN Bureau had to take the painful decision to cancel all these events,” a statement on the decision reads. “The respective technical committees will prepare proposals if those age groups who have lost their chance to compete this summer (as they are to become over-aged next year) should be eligible to take part in 2021 or not.”
LEN says that they are still looking at explorations to finish the European water polo season and to hold the European Aquatics Championships. The latter was due to begin May 11th in Budapest, but LEN announced in March that that event would be postponed. At the time, they said they were exploring either dates in August, or perhaps a push to 2021, though the feasability of a 2021 delay might depend on the updating of the FINA calendar.
