Paris (AFP) - The swimming world championships scheduled to take place in the Japanese city of Fukuoka in May this year have been postponed until July 2023 because of Covid-19 risks, organisers said on Tuesday.
Swimming's governing body FINA said the world championships after that, in the Qatari capital Doha, will as a result be delayed until January 2024.
"Given the current pandemic situation and the measures currently in place in Japan, FINA and key stakeholders of the Fukuoka 2022 Organising Committee have agreed to reschedule the 19th FINA World Championships to 14-30 July 2023," FINA President Husain Al-Musallam said in a statement.
"These decisions have been taken in the best interests of everyone involved," he added.
Fukuoka was originally due to host the world championships in 2021, but they had to be moved to avoid a clash with last year's postponed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The last worlds took place in 2019 in Gwangju, South Korea.
FINA said it would announce "soon" an updated 2022 international calendar offering "athletes additional opportunities to compete at the highest level".
Swimming's world championships, combining competition in the pool, open water, diving and artistic swimming, are normally held every odd year, a schedule upended by the coronavirus pandemic.
There are two major dates remaining in the international swimming calendar for this year - the European Aquatics Championships in Rome in August and the 25m world championships in Kazan, Russia in December.
The rescheduled 2023 world championships in Doha to early 2024 will be the first to be held in the same year as the Summer Olympics with Paris 2024 set for July 26 to August 11.
