The European Swimming League (LEN) has announced the postponement of the 2020 European Championships to the post-Olympic period. The Championships were originally planned for May 11 – 24 in Budapest, Hungary.

After consulting with LEN’s key stakeholders, the Hungarian federation and the Hungarian government, the new tentative dates are August 17 – 30, a week after the 2020 Olympics will have concluded in Tokyo.

Given the rapidly changing landscape in the midst of the pandemic, LEN also mentions that it will reassess these dates towards the end of May/early June 2020. If these August dates are not feasible, LEN president Paolo Barelli said he would consider the possibility to move the championships to an even later date, including up to spring 2021.

In addition, LEN mentions that the various European Junior Championships scheduled to happen between the end of June and early July 2020 will likely need to be postponed as well. The federation will assess with the individual organizers whether these events can be pushed back to August or September, or whether a different decision will have to be made. This applies to the European Junior Championships in artistic swimming scheduled for June 24 – 28 in Malta.

Overall, all LEN sports and non-sports events scheduled to take place before the end of June or beginning of July are being put on hold, postponed, or cancelled.

The LEN Congress and European Masters Championships have also been postponed. They were scheduled to be held alongside the European Championships, but their new dates have yet to be determined, although both are planned to be held alongside the main championships.

Article by Christina Marmet

Cover photo by Deepbluemedia.