Organizers for the 2020 Freediving World Series announced this week that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition has been canceled.
According to a post on the Vertical Blue Facebook page:
“Based on the current situation, and following updated guidelines provided by both the World Health Organization (WHO) and local governments of countries in which our events will take place, it is with disappointment that we must announce that the Freediving World Series will not be held in this year 2020, and that the event scheduled for Kalamata in September has had to be canceled.”
Ongoing travel restrictions have meant that many athletes from countries outside Europe won’t be able to go to Greece in August in time to begin training for an event in mid-September.
“This means that, according to CMAS regulations, the event cannot be organised as part of a ‘World Series/Championship.’
“On top of this logistic constraint, we also have as our first priority the safety and health of our Athletes and we cannot run a global competition of this magnitude if not all the Athletes will have the opportunity to participate staying safe during their travels and trainings.”
One bit of good news is that there’s a possibility that Vertical Blue could take place from October 20th-30th, but a final decision about this won’t be announced until August 16th.
“If it does go ahead then Vertical Blue would be a stand-alone event, and serve as a ‘prelude’ for the 2021 Freediving World Series.”
