European cross country championships cancelled due to pandemic

BERLIN (Reuters) - European Athletics on Wednesday cancelled the continent's cross country championships set for December in Ireland due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The continent's governing body for the sport said the conditions in Ireland with regard to the virus and travel restrictions across Europe meant the event due to start on Dec. 13 would have to be cancelled.

"The decision to cancel the... European Cross Country Athletics Championships was a very tough choice for European Athletics," said interim president Dobromir Karamarinov.

"Following the cancellation of the Paris 2020 European Athletics Championship a few months ago, this was the last opportunity for a major European Athletics event this year and cancelling it was not an option we chose lightly."

Italy's Turin will stage the 2021 edition of the championships.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar)