Due to the current international travel restrictions recently announced by the U.S. government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) related to the COVID-19 Coronavirus, the International Triathlon Union (ITU) – in consultation with USA Triathlon, the organizing committee and the local authorities of Florida – has made the decision to postpone the 2020 ITU Sarasota-Bradenton ITU Triathlon World Cup and the Sarasota-Bradenton ITU Paratriathlon World Cup, originally scheduled to take place on March 22.
This decision was made following close communication by USA Triathlon, the ITU and SANCA (Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates, Inc., the local organizing committee) with the Florida Department of Health, as many athletes on the start list are impacted by the travel restrictions.
Moving forward, ITU will work with USA Triathlon and local organizers to explore a suitable date later in the season to potentially host both events safely and in a fair way for all athletes.
Separately, in addition to this ITU World Cup announcement, the PATCO Paratriathlon Panamerican Championships, Sprint Triathlon Panamerican Cup and Junior North American Championships set for March 14, will take place as planned. PATCO, the ITU and USA Triathlon have received approval from the Florida Department of Health and local authorities to hold with the event. Specific risk mitigation measures are being implemented to keep the health and safety of athletes, coaches, staff and volunteers as the highest priority. Because PATCO athletes represent national federations in North, South and Central America, travel plans for athletes registered for this weekend’s events have not been impacted by the travel restrictions currently in place by the U.S. government and the CDC — particularly due to the fact that the majority of athletes are already onsite.
PATCO and ITU want to express their full support to the local organisers, USA Triathlon, teams and volunteers. We are working to try to find a suitable date during the season for the postponed Sarasota-Bradenton ITU Triathlon and ITU Paratriathlon World Cup events, and we will communicate any further changes on this situation to all stakeholders as soon as possible.
About ITU
The International Triathlon Union is the world governing body for the Olympic sport of Triathlon and all related MultiSport disciplines including Duathlon, Aquathlon, Cross Triathlon and Winter Triathlon. ITU was founded in 1989 at the first ITU Congress in Avignon, France. It has maintained its headquarters in Vancouver, Canada since then and also has offices in Lausanne, Switzerland and Madrid, Spain. It now has 172 affiliated National Federations on five continents and is the youngest International Federation in the Olympic Games. Triathlon was awarded Olympic Games status in 1994 and made its Olympic debut in Sydney 2000. Triathlon is also featured in the Asian Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games. Paratriathlon was accepted into the Paralympic Games in 2010 and made its Paralympic debut in Rio 2016. ITU is proudly committed to supporting the development of the sport worldwide through strong relationships with continental and national federations, working with its partners to offer a balanced sport development programme from grassroots to a high-performance level. For more information, visit: www.triathlon.org
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