On ice: ISU confirms THREE skating world championships will be CANCELED due to COVID-19

The international governing body of skating, the ISU, has announced that three skating world championship events set for 2020 will be canceled as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, World Figure Skating Championships and World Synchronized Skating Championships, which had already been postponed due to the coronavirus crisis, could not remain postponed indefinitely, and the ISU has therefore moved to CANCEL the events.

A statement from the organization said, "Mindful of the escalating negative COVID-19 developments, the resulting worldwide human tragedy and the measures taken by the public authorities as well as logistical challenges the ISU Council during its on-line meeting held on April 16, 2020 concluded that a postponement of the pending 2020 ISU Championships is not possible.

"Consequently, the ISU Council has decided that the following ISU Championships must be definitely canceled:

• ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, Seoul, March 13-15, 2020
• ISU World Figure Skating Championships, Montreal, March 16-22, 2020
• ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships, Lake Placid, April 3-5, 2020

The statement continued, explaining that a further meeting would be convened at the end of April where the ISU Council would discuss the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ISU event calendar.

"The objective is to work out and communicate to all stakeholders options suitable for different scenarios in order to limit the uncertainty to the strict minimum," the statement continued.

"This evaluation will also consider the ISU Skating Awards in Figure Skating."