SARASOTA, Fla. — Despite growing concerns over the coronavirus, the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic trials, as well as the ITU Triathlon World Cup, will all be held at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota.
“We have nine days of competition between two triathlons and the Olympic rowing trials, so two Olympic qualifying events in total,” said Doug Jessmer, the media and communications manager for the park.
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Jessmer says they are paying attention to what’s going on with the coronavirus. Officials have been in constant communication with the county and the state health department for several days.
“There has been no decision to postpone or cancel any of these events,” he said.
Jessmer said caution is a big thing.
“We want people to exercise common sense and be safe. We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure they're safe while they're here," Jessmer said.
He said they are going to set up extra hand washing stations and hand sanitizing stations. Also, every athlete is required to self report.
“They know what to watch for,” said Jessmer.
The triathlons start on Saturday. The first team trial will start on March 16, and run until the 21.
These are the competitions: The women’s single sculls, men’s single sculls, lightweight women’s double sculls and lightweight men’s double sculls.
The second round of trials are scheduled for April 13-18.
The competitions will be: Racing in four Olympic boat classes – the women’s double sculls, men’s double sculls, men’s pair and men’s quadruple sculls; as well as three Paralympic boat classes – PR1 men’s singled sculls, PR1 women’s single sculls and PR2 mixed double sculls.
Here is the full list of competitions at the Nathan Benderson Park:
- Sarasota-Bradenton ITU Triathlon Festival, March 13-15
- U.S. Olympic Trials - Rowing, March 17-21
- ITU World Cup Triathlon, March 21-22 (other Olympic qualifier)
The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will run July 24 - Aug. 9 in Tokyo, Japan.
The 2020 Paralympic Games are scheduled for Aug. 25 - Sept. 6.
