Decision ‘a positive’ for Chalmers’ chances
CAM CHALMERS has defended World Athletics’ major decision to freeze its Olympic qualification process until December.
Following the postponement of Tokyo 2020 to July 2021, the International Olympic Committee recently granted hopefuls a deadline extension of 12 months – until June 29 that year.
Athletics’ international governing body swiftly answered by preventing any performances posted over the next eight months from counting towards qualifying.
But this has not dashed the hopes of 23-year-old Chalmers, a 400m relay and possibly individual hopeful, who supports the decision in the interest of fairness.
‘I think it’s great having until the end of June next year to qualify,’ said the Guernseyman.
‘It gives me another year’s worth of training to add to what I’ve done the last few years to hopefully give myself the best chance of getting that Olympic qualifying standard, so that’s positive.
‘In terms of things not counting for the rest of this year, I think that’s the sensible decision to be made to keep it fair across all countries.
‘You never know, some countries might get past the lockdown and lack of facilities and training/race opportunities much quicker than others.
‘It will hopefully prevent athletes trying to do crazy things to get a race or stay in shape in the hope of qualifying this year.’
This echoes the earlier comments of Guernsey Athletics development officer Tom Druce.
With Cam’s long-hurdling brother Alastair also carrying Olympic ambitions, Druce now hopes to see both make their mark next year.
‘Everybody will be excited to have 2021 as a qualifying period and losing this year does not really penalise those two,’ he said.
‘Clearly they are both expecting to be faster next year by the fact they are young and they are in a position to improve.’
The main knock-on effect of the Olympic postponement, it seems, has come from the shifting of the next World Athletics Championships.
The two events clashed initially but the ‘Worlds’ will now take place just before the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, which now finish days before the Munich 2022 European Championships in a grand triple.
