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Coronavirus concerns may postpone or cancel world figure skating championships

By Helene Elliott
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Officials in the Canadian province of Quebec are expected to decide in the next few days if they will allow the world figure skating championships to be held as scheduled in Montreal from March 16-22 or if health concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak merit postponing or canceling the competition. The event, which brings together the world’s top men, women, pairs and ice dance duos, is scheduled to take place at the Bell Centre.

The health minister of Quebec, Danielle McCann, told the Canadian Press on Monday the Public Health Agency of Canada will provide input to the government in evaluating if the competition should to go forward. The women’s world hockey championships, which were scheduled to start later this month in Nova Scotia, Canada, were canceled last week by the International Ice Hockey Federation.

McCann said provincial public health and public security officials are involved in the analysis of the March 16-22 figure skating event, with input from the Public Health Agency of Canada. Cancellation has not been ruled out.

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“We have to do a case-by-case analysis of the events, but we are aware that we need to make a decision rapidly,” she said.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - APRIL 05: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) LG Twins team players play their intra-team game to be broadcasted online for their fans at a empty Jamshil baseball stadium as South Koreans take measures to protect themselves against the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) on April 05, 2020 in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea has called for expanded public participation in social distancing, as the country witnesses a wave of community spread and imported infections leading to a resurgence in new cases of COVID-19. According to the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday, 81 new cases were reported. The total number of infections in the nation tallies at 10,237. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

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In a statement Monday, Skate Canada said the event is scheduled to take place as planned. “As the situation is changing quickly, we continue to monitor new developments of the evolution of COVID-19 in co-operation with the ISU and will follow the recommendations provided by the World Health Organization and the Public Health Agency of Canada,” the statement said.

The world figure skating championships have been canceled before. World War I led to cancellations of the competition from 1915 through 1921, and World War II caused cancellation from 1940 through 1946. The 1961 championships were canceled following the fatal crash in Belgium of the plane that was carrying the U.S. team to Prague, Czechoslovakia.

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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