KOCHI, SEPT 29,
The ‘one-meet wonders’, who stay in hiding for a major part of the season and then show up with a stunning performance to make the cut for major athletics championships, will have to change their strategies for the next couple of years.
The IAAF, athletics’ world body, has now released its qualification system for next year’s World Championships in Doha and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and the hard road to these two majors will be mainly through the world rankings system. Points will be given for every performance (based on the IAAF scoring table) and Indian athletes will now have to compete in many international meets and come up with at least five strong performances during the one-year ranking-cum-qualification period to make the grade. Of course, athletes can still make the cut by achieving the entry standard but that will be considered only in cases where there are exceptional performances. That could mean that the entry standards, which will be announced on November 1, are likely to be very tough this time. And athletes who achieve them could come under close scrutiny and may also have to endure an anxious wait before the final nod is given by the world body after filling up the slots through the special world rankings system.
The IAAF announced the qualification system for the Worlds, which will run from September 28 to October 6 in Qatar next year, on Friday and the qualification period runs from September 7 this year to September 6, 2019. But for select events like the 10,000m, marathon, race walks, relays and combined events, the qualification period began on March 7.
