Weekend of August 8-9 is the protected window for national championships...

MONACO--World Athletics announced Friday that the weekend of August 8-9 will be the protected window for national championship meets this season following the disruption of the international competition calendar by the coronavirus pandemic.

The purpose of creating a protected window is to allow athletes to be able to compete in their national championships without scheduling conflicts, and Member Federations are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity if it is safe for athletes to compete in August. This applies primarily to the Northern Hemisphere, which is in its outdoor season.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said: “None of us can predict the future in these unprecedented times but we do know that different countries are at different stages of managing this pandemic so we are trying to give a structure to our athletes and Member Federations so they can begin to plan for the year ahead. If it is at all possible, we will schedule a belated outdoor season from August to October to help our athletes to figure out where they stand after the disruption of this year.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding the ability of all countries to resume competition at the same time or for athletes to have equal access to major competitions this year, the suspension of the Olympic qualification process will remain in place from 6 April to 30 November, 2020, as announced earlier this week.

Looking forward to next year, the Global Calendar Unit has agreed that the 2021 national championships protected windows will be on 5-6 June and 26-27 June, 2021, just prior to the end of the qualifying period for the Tokyo Olympic Games (June 29, 2021).

The World Athletics release is available here.

WHO HAS THE OLYMPIC GAMES STANDARD AS OF NOW?

Mel Lawrence (Paul Merca photo)

Before the start of the Doha world championships, we tracked which Washington athletes owned the world championships standard, anticipating the need to track those who have the 2020 Olympic standard.

With the decision earlier in the week by World Athletics to suspend using marks from April 6th to December 1st for 2020NE Olympic qualifying purposes, here's the list of athletes with the standard.

MEN:

Josh Kerr (Brooks Beasts), 1500 meters--3;32.52, Doha WC finals, 10/6/19

WOMEN:

Alexa Efraimson (Camas), 1500 meters--4:04.06, Nanjing, 5/21/19

Mel Lawrence (UW alum), 3000 steeple--9:29.81, Oslo, 6/13/19

Katie Nageotte (Pullman), pole vault--15-9.75/4.82m, Lausanne 7/4/19

Olivia Gruver (UW), pole vault--15-5/4.70m, Albuquerque, 2/15/20

Kara Winger (Vancouver), javelin--213-0/64.92m, Lima, 8/9/19

Athletes are allowed to chase the Olympic qualifying standards beginning December 1st all the way to June 29, 2021. The link to the Olympic qualifying standards is available here.

Note that World Athletics and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee will use the world rankings to fill the field in each event.

Note that former UW volunteer coach Matthew Centrowitz, who has the Olympic standard in both the 1500 and 5000, is no longer carried as having Washington ties. Katie Nageotte is carried with Washington ties for now, despite moving to Atlanta over the summer.

Jake Riley from Bellingham finished second at the 2020 US Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta on February 29, and owned the Olympic qualifying standard. Riley's spot for 2020NE is locked.

NOTE: World Athletics contributed to this report.

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