The African Athletics Championships have been postponed again ©CAA

The African Athletics Championships in Algeria have been postponed for a third time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The biennial event should have been held in 2020 but was rescheduled for June 1 to 5 in Oran, before being moved again to June 22 to 26 in Algiers.

Now the event’s date and venue are uncertain, with no word yet from the Confederation of African Athletics of new arrangements.

World Athletics has set June 29 as the deadline for reaching the qualifying mark to take part at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Algiers had been due to host the Championships last year before the event was postponed due to COVID-19 ©Getty Images
Algiers had been due to host the Championships last year before the event was postponed due to COVID-19 ©Getty Images

The Algerian Ministry of Youth and Sports (MJS) said in a statement that the decision was "due to the health situation, marked by a resurgence in the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and the risk of circulation of new variants".

The Ministry said it was "following the recommendations of the scientific monitoring committee of the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic". 

"The MJS called on the Algerian Athletics Federation (FAA) to make the necessary arrangements to inform the officials of the Confederation of African Athletics in order to agree new dates for the holding of these championships as soon as the health situation improves," it added.

The African Athletics Championships were last held in the Nigerian city of Asaba in 2018.