Wednesday, 10 February 2021:

The latest COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne and expected border closures in South Australia have led to the postponement of Sunday's 20km race walking championships.

The Holiday Inn cluster in Melbourne's northern suburbs grew to eight cases on Wednesday with two new infections.

Athletics Australia CEO Darren Gocher said the decision was based on the health and safety of the Australian athletics community, many of whom were planning to travel from Melbourne to Adelaide to compete and attend the Championships.

"We understand that this news will be incredibly disappointing to athletes who have been training for the Australian 20km Race Walking Championships, however the welfare of our community must come first," Gocher said.

"The majority of our athletes who are scheduled to compete this Sunday are travelling from Melbourne, as are our staff and technical judges who are also based there. We want our community to be able to get the necessary refunds on travel if they possibly can.

"We also want to make sure that everyone who was supposed to be in attendance still gets that experience, so it only makes sense for us to postpone the Championships."

Athletics Australia will now begin executing its contingency plan, which will be to hold the event on Saturday, March 27 in conjunction with the Australian 50km Race Walking Championships in Melbourne.

AAP