Kevin Mayer and Evelis Aguilar capped their 2020 campaigns with victories at the Meeting de la Réunion, the opening competition of the 2021 World Athletics Challenge - Combined Events, on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion on Saturday (19 december).

Mayer, the world record-holder, tallied 8552 points to take a convincing victory, and more importantly, securing his qualifying mark for next summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Aguilar, the South American record-holder, collected 6055 points to fend off Estonian Mari Klaup's late challenge by 41 points.

With just five days to go until the World Athletics Awards 2020, the attention of the athletics world now shifts to the annual celebration honouring the world's best athletes whose achievements helped contribute to another unforgettable year for the sport.

Godwin Adongo loves to run. At eight years old, she finds athletics shows more interesting than cartoons and watches the Diamond League for fun. On Saturdays and Sundays, she hits dirt tracks in the Ugandan city of Lira for one-hour drills, honing her skills as a runner.

“I started running when I was three year old,’ says Adongo. “That’s when I first went to school.”

In June, the Benin Athletics Federation was named thesecond bestsports organisation in the West African nation by the country’s Olympic and Sports Committee.

The distinction came along with a check for4.5 million West African francs (approximately US$8130), which was converted at the federation’s requestto badly-neededtrack and field equipment, and promptly handed over to local athletics leagues.

This year's finest athletics achievements will be celebrated at the World Athletics Awards 2020, to be staged as a virtual event on Saturday 5 December and streamed live on the World Athletics YouTube channel.                  

Eight awards, including those in three new categories, will be presented:          

Poland is ready to welcome about 250 runners from more than 50 teams to compete at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020 on Saturday 17 October.

The sole World Athletics Series event of 2020 will also be one of the most highly anticipated competitions of the year as several global champions and world record-holders feature among the entries. Africa, true to tradition, should unquestionably dominate the competition.

World 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei, fellow Ugandan star Jacob Kiplimo, and world record-holders Peres Jepchirchir and Ababel Yeshaneh will all compete for global honours in Gdynia this weekend.

The 4th edition of the GRAND PRIX CAA de Yaoundé will take place on Saturday, October 17, 2020 at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium. No less than 11 countries have confirmed their participation in this competition organized the day after the easing of barrier measures related to COVID 19.

Thus, Nigeria will be represented by 06 athletes including Emmanuel AROWOLO, winner of the 100m during the last edition. Benin, led by the 2020 French champion in the double lap Noelie YARIGO, will travel to Yaoundé with 04 athletes.

Congo Brazza, with in its ranks the gold medalist in the 100 m of the recent Francophonie Games, Natacha NGOYE, will be represented by 03 athletes. Kenya and the Central African Republic have confirmed the participation of 02 athletes each.

Djibouti, DRC, Zambia, Ethiopia, Chad and the United States of America each accredited 01 plenipotentiary.

The President of the Algerian Athletics Federation (FAA), Mr. Hakim Dib accompanied by the National Technical Director Mr. Abdelkrim Sadou recently inspected the renovation works of the athletics stadium and omnisports ground (SATO) commonly called `` annex stadium of the Olympic city Mohamed Boudiaf of Algiers.

Since last September, this site has been undergoing major work to ensure its updating to international standards.

The stadium "ceded" by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to the National Athletics Federation after an agreement was due to be delivered last June, but the COVID19 pandemic has delayed the work.

Nairobi is preparing to host, 3 October 2020, the first World Athletics Continental Tour Meeting on African soil. The anticipation over the tour is high, partly because it will be the first major athletics event on the continent since the coronavirus struck.

“This is an event that is really important, especially for Africa,” says Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei. “It is going to open our sports in the country and most likely in Africa, because since Covid-19, there has not been any major championship in Africa.”

Nairobi was to host the World Athletics U20 Championships this year but the event was rescheduled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, the Continental Tour is giving Athletics Kenya another chance to put on a great show this year.

“We want to organise it bearing in mind that the success of the Continental Tour in Nairobi will also resonate on how Africa can organise events,” says Tuwei.

“It will give us an opportunity to ensure that other events can spring up all over Africa, so that we are also able to have our own series that can help and build athletics on our continent.”

The meet – named the Kip Keino Classic after distance legend Kipchoge Keino – was initially planned for May but was moved twice to its current date of 3 October. However, the organisers are no less enthusiastic.

“A lot of disruption was experienced not only in preparations but also the athletes were affected and so it was a bit of a challenge when it was postponed. But we are very excited and looking forward to hosting a very successful event,” says Tuwei.

There are five core events in the gold meeting series this season – the 200m, 3000m steeplechase, triple jump, discus throw and hammer throw for both men and women. The Nairobi meet will also include javelin throw, the 400m, 800m, 1500m and 5000m. The organisers have also included some national events to give local athletes the chance to compete in a season ripped to shreds by the coronavirus pandemic.

The meeting will take place at the Nyayo National Stadium, which is newly refurbished to meet the standards of World Athletics competitions.

Helen Ngoh for World Athletics