The FIE has announced the following information concerning delays and cancellations due to Covid-19:
Competition update
Junior and Cadet World Championships 2020: Following various consultations with the Medical Commission and the Athletes’ Commission, it was decided to cancel the 2020 edition of the J/C World Championships.
The US Fencing Federation has declared itself ready to host the Junior and Cadet WorldChampionships in April 2022.
Veterans World Championships 2020: Following various consultations with the Medical Commission, the Athletes’ Commission and theVeterans’ Council, it was decided to cancel the 2020 edition of the Veteran World Championships.
The Croatian Fencing Federation has declared itself ready to host the 2022 Veteran WorldChampionships.
Senior World Championships: The 2021 Senior World Championships have been awarded to Cairo (EGY). As the Olympic Games have been postponed to 2021, the Senior World Championships cannot be held in 2021.
The Egyptian Fencing Federation has declared itself ready to host the 2022 edition of the SeniorWorld Championships.
Olympic qualification: If this is possible for the organisers, the last qualification events (1 Grand Prix and 4 World Cups) will take place on the same dates and venues initially planned for 2020, therefore in March 2021.
They will be followed by the zone qualifying events (between 15 and 30 April 2021), with the same organisers, if they agree to host them.
Calendar 2020-2021: If the participating federations are not prevented from taking part in competitions (due to flights,visas, training, health restrictions, quarantines, etc.), it is planned to resume competitions on 1 November 2020, according to the calendar approved by the Executive Committee in February2020, but without organising satellite competitions in September and October. The organising federations will be contacted immediately by the FIE.
The global situation will be reassessed in August to confirm, by September 1, the date of November 1, 2020 or its postponement. This reassessment will be based on the following criteria:- Entry/health/medical/visa restrictions in countries hosting competitions - Travel restrictions of participating federations - Suitable training for participating athletes.
The data used to determine the list of participating federations come from participation statistics (Grand Prix and World Cups) for the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons. If certain competitions cannot be organised as planned, they will not be reassigned and will simply be canceled. In the context of COVID-19 an outline of risk-mitigation requirements for federations and event organisers has been developed by the Task Force, and then revised by the Medical and Legal Commissions. At this stage, this outline of requirements involves difficult and complex implementation. By starting competitions in November, and if the global situation improves significantly, we hope that these requirements can be drastically reduced and therefore be less constraining.The requirements plan will be continuously adapted as the COVID-19 situation evolves.
Senior Rankings 2020-2021
"Frozen" senior Olympic qualification rankings: The senior Olympic qualification rankings currently "frozen" as of March 2020 will remain "frozen"until we organize the Grand Prix and the 4 World Cups counting for the Olympic qualification.These rankings will then be "reactivated" and used for:- the Grand Prix and the 4 World Cups counting for the Olympic qualification (March 2021 )- the World Cups, Grand Prix and Senior Zonal Championships which will be held after the end of Olympic qualification - the Olympic Games
Senior competitions from November 2020 to February 2021: To avoid affecting the "frozen" senior rankings for Olympic qualification, we will establish"parallel" senior rankings. The points obtained during the competitions from November 2020 to February 2021 will be integrated in these "parallel" rankings.These "parallel" senior rankings will be established without (will not include) the cities from the previous season. Points will be added competition after competition, as we would do for new rankings. Consequently, there will be no cities or points to replace from the previous season.The ranks/starting points of the senior “parallel” rankings will be those of March 2020, when the competitions stopped. Points obtained in the “parallel” senior rankings will be integrated in the senior rankings after the Olympic Games.
Junior rankings: Since the Asian Junior Championships could not be held in 2020, the points from the 2019 Asian Junior Championships will be retained (but with a coefficient of 1.0 as for other continents) in the junior rankings for the 2020–2021 season, until these Asian Junior Championships are organised in 2021 (normally in February 2021). The points from the 2019 Junior World Championships will be retained at the beginning of the 2020-2021 season until the 2021 Junior World Championships are held in April in Cairo.
Winners of the 2020 rankings: A number of competitions could not be held due to the global pandemic, and the fencing family was severely affected. So the question was whether athletes and teams should be even more heavily affected by canceling the declaration for winners of rankings. Such a decision would constitute a break in our history and a loss for our athletes. It was therefore decided to declare the winners of the 2020 Junior and Senior Rankings, individual and team. The rankings used will be the current rankings which stopped in March 2020.
Maraging sabre blades
Given the situation of the athletes and the blade manufacturers, the obligation to use sabre maraging blades is postponed to September 2021.Consequently, maraging and non-maraging sabre blades will be authorized in competitions until 31 August 2021.11.
Refereeing examinations
Given the exceptional circumstances, the 2020 refereeing examinations will not take place. The next refereeing examinations are scheduled for September and October 2021.