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Diamond League releases new calendar for season rocked by coronavirus

The Diamond League season has been pushed into an August start by the coronavirus pandemic under a new calendar for track and field's showpiece meetings released on Tuesday.

With the exception of a 11 June meeting in Oslo that will feature modified events in line with social distancing rules, the season proper is now scheduled to start in Monaco on 14 August.

Twelve meetings will feature, culminating in China on 17 October at a venue yet to be arranged.

The London Diamond League meeting scheduled for 4-5 July has been cancelled.

Announcing that decision, UK Athletics chief Joanna Coates said: "We must place the safety of the entire athletics family at the forefront of every decision we make during these unprecedented times and ensure we are following government advice."

The Zurich Weltklasse meeting, which had been due to form the three-day finals of the Diamond League on 9-11 September, has also been scrapped.

"Despite the fact that the Swiss Federal Council has banned large events only until the end of August, staging the finals in their intended form is unrealistic," the Zurich organisers said.

The meeting in Rabat is the third to have been removed.

The Diamond League season had originally been due to start in Doha on 17 April.

Athletes have been forced to recalibrate their entire season after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed by a year.

The European Athletics Championships, due to have taken place in Paris in the second half of August, have been cancelled.

Revised Diamond League calendar:

June 11 - Oslo

August 14 - Monaco

August 16 - Gateshead

August 23 - Stockholm

September 2 - Lausanne

September 4 - Brussels

September 6 - Paris (to be confirmed)

September 17 - Rome/Naples

September 19 - Shanghai

October 4 - Eugene

October 9 - Doha

October 17 - Chinese venue to be arranged

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