Following the decision on 19 March 2020 to postpone LWC2020 due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the ILS has discussed alternative solutions with the Italian Lifesaving Federation (FIN) and with the host of the LWC 2022. Both agreed with the proposed plan, which is to move the LWC 2020 to 2022, to keep the LWC 2024 at the Gold Coast, Australia and to plan the LWC 2026 in Agadir, Morocco.
Read ILSF and the official letter which mentions also the postponement of the General Assembly, and which has a grim prediction of how also 2021 will be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic:
The ILS Elective General Assembly and associated meetings planned to be held at LWC 2020
will now be held prior to the ILS World Conference on Drowning Prevention 2021 in Colombo Sri
Lanka in early October 2021.
It was agreed to postpone the LWC 2020 to 2022 and not to 2021. The reasons are:
- There is much uncertainty regarding the continuing spread of Covid-19.
- It is not likely that a medication or a vaccine will be available for at least a year to 18 months.
- Until that time, continued movement restrictions will likely still be in force in 2021.
- There is already a crowded global sporting calendar in 2021 because so many events are being rescheduled to the second half of that year.
- Many ILS Member Federations are already reporting that their income streams have been seriously affected. It will take much of 2021 to recover their losses and they will not be able to afford to travel to an LWC that takes place in 2021.
- There is also another major ILS event in 2021, namely the World Conference on Drowning Prevention. The Conference will take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka in early October 2021.
- The host federation, Italy, also needs time to recover financially from the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic so that it can deliver the rescheduled events.
- If an LWC event was rescheduled to 2021, and 2022 was maintained in Morocco, there could be an adverse impact on both events as participants may not be able to afford to attend both events in relatively quick succession
