IN THE FEBRUARY ISSUE we asked, “Will New Meets Pump New Life Into The U.S. Calendar?” That was our positive analysis of the creation of the American Track League series indoors and the 7-meet Pro Track Series outdoors.
The latter is scheduled to have meets on May 14–15 (Los Angeles), 29 (Portland) & 31 (Des Moines), June 05 (Nashville), July 10 & 17 (both LA) and August 14 (Memphis). But the revamping of the high-end calendar, both nationally and internationally, didn’t end there.
USATF Creates Journey To Gold Series
More good news for American pros came with USATF’s early-March announcement https://www.usatf.org/news/2021/usatf-announces-2021-journey-to-gold-tokyo-outdoor of the creation of a new 11-meet “Journey To Gold — Tokyo” series. All the meets have been awarded Continental Tour status by WA ( *** = Gold; ** = Silver; * = Bronze):
April — 03 USATF Sprint Summit** (Prairie View, Texas), 10 Miramar Invitational** (Miramar, Florida), 24 Drake Relays** (Des Moines, Iowa) & USATF Grand Prix Oregon Relays*** (Eugene, Oregon);
May — 09 USATF Golden Games/Distance Open*** (Walnut, California), 18 USATF Open* (Ft. Worth, Texas), 22 USATF Throws Festival** (Tucson, Arizona), 23 adidas Boost Boston Games*** (Boston, Massachusetts), 25 USATF Invitational** (Prairie View, Texas), 29 Chula Vista Field Festival* (Chula Vista, California);
June — 06 USATF Showcase** (Prairie View, Texas)
“Competing on their home soil in the leadup to Tokyo affords our athletes a great opportunity for success,” said USATF CEO Max Siegel. “Additional outdoor meets this year bolster our competition calendar and we look forward to seeing athletes competing again after such a challenging year.”
Said WA head Seb Coe, “These will provide new and vital competition opportunities and prize money for athletes and strengthen our sport both in the USA and internationally. We believe the expanded U.S. calendar is an early legacy of the decision to take our flagship event, the World Athletics Championships, to Oregon in 2022, and we are confident there will be further legacies to come.”
WA’s Continental Tour Expands Greatly
Right behind the Diamond League in WA’s hierarchy of invitational meets (“one-day meetings” in Monaco’s parlance) is the Continental Tour. In early March, many new fixtures were added, with the result that the ’21 version became scheduled to consist of 85 meets — an increase from 57 last year. Not all 85 have been clarified yet, but here are the 76 fixtures as of our publication date in 3 layers of quality: 14 in the Gold category, 17 Silver & 45 Bronze.
| Continental Tour Gold | ||
| April | ||
| 24 | USATF GP Oregon Relays | Eugene, Oregon |
| May | ||
| 09 | Ready Steady Tokyo | Tokyo, Japan |
| USATF Golden Games | Walnut, California | |
| 11 | 2021 CT | Nanjing, China |
| 19 | Golden Spike | Ostrava, Czech Republic |
| 23 | adidas Boost Boston Games | Boston, Massachusetts |
| June | ||
| 05 | Racers adidas GP | Kingston, Jamaica |
| 06 | FBK Games | Hengelo, Netherlands |
| 08 | Nurmi Games | Turku, Finland |
| 30 | Szewińska Memorial | Bydgoszcz, Poland |
| July | ||
| 06 | Gyulai Memorial | Székesfehérvár, Hungary |
| September | ||
| 05 | Skolimowska Memorial | Chorzów, Poland |
| 14 | Memorial Hanžekovića | Zagreb, Croatia |
| 18 | Keino Classic | Nairobi, Kenya |
| Continental Tour Silver | ||
| March | ||
| 27 | Queensland Track Classic | Brisbane, Australia |
| April | ||
| 03 | USATF Sprint Summit | Prairie View, Texas |
| 10 | Miramar Invitational | Miramar, Florida |
| 24 | Drake Relays | Des Moines, Iowa |
| May | ||
| 08 | Jamaica International | Kingston, Jamaica |
| 22 | USATF Throws Fest | Tucson, Arizona |
| 25 | USATF Festival | Prairie View, Texas |
| 28–29 | New Life Invitational | Nassau, Bahamas |
| June | ||
| 02 | Women’s Gala | Filothéi, Greece |
| P-T-S Meeting | Šamorín, Slovakia | |
| 06 | USATF Showcase | Prairie View, Texas |
| 11 | Meeting Madrid 2021 | Madrid, Spain |
| 20 | Kusociński Memorial | Chorzów, Poland |
| 29 | Spitzen Leichtathletik | Lucerne, Switzerland |
| July | ||
| 01 | Gala dei Castelli | Bellinzona, Switzerland |
| August | ||
| 31 | Palio Cittá della Quercia | Rovereto, Italy |
| September | ||
| 12 | ISTAF | Berlin, Germany |
| Continental Tour Bronze | ||
| February | ||
| 06 | International | Christchurch, New Zealand |
| 27 | Douglas International | Auckland, New Zealand |
| March | ||
| 11 | Track Classic | Canberra, Australia |
| 13 | Track Classic | Sydney, Australia |
| April | ||
| 24 | International | Gaborone, Botswana |
| 29 | Oda Memorial | Hiroshima, Japan |
| May | ||
| 03 | Shizuoka International | Fukuroi, Japan |
| 05 | Kinami Memorial | Osaka, Japan |
| 15 | Halle Throws | Halle, Germany |
| 18 | USATF Open | Ft. Worth, Texas |
| 19 | Street Vault | Athens, Greece |
| 21 | Anhalt 2021 | Dessau, Germany |
| 22 | Papafléssia | Kalamáta, Greece |
| le Grand Caraïbe | Baie-Mahault, Guadeloupe | |
| Meeting Paraiso Interior | Andújar, Spain | |
| 23 | Pentecost Sport Meeting | Rehlingen, Germany |
| 29 | Field Festival | Chula Vista, California |
| 30 | Venizelia | Chanía, Crete |
| June | ||
| 01 | Meeting International | Montreuil, France |
| 02 | Friidrott GP | Gothenburg, Sweden |
| 03 | Meeting Iberoamericano | Huelva, Spain |
| 05 | Hungarian GP Series | Tatabánya, Hungary |
| 06 | Challenge Cup | Niigata, Japan |
| 07 | Odložil Memorial | Prague, Czech Republic |
| 08 | Copenhagen Athletics Games | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| 09 | Meeting International | Marseille, France |
| 12 | AthletiCAGenève-EAP | Geneva, Switzerland |
| 13 | Sollentuna GP | Sollentuna, Sweden |
| 15 | Kladensky Memorial | Kladno, Czech Republic |
| 19 | Pompey Invitational | Leonora, Guyana |
| 19–20 | Qosanov Memorial | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| 24 | Mohn Games | Bergen, Norway |
| 26 | Kuortane Games | Kuortane, Finland |
| 27 | #True Athletics Classics | Leverkusen, Germany |
| 29 | La Classique | Montréal, Quebec |
| 30 | Meeting International | Liège, Belgium |
| July | ||
| 03 | KBC Nacht van den Atletiek | Heusden-Zolder, Netherlands |
| Maltese Islands GP | Marsa, Malta | |
| 05 | Meeting Stanislas Nancy | Tomblaine, France |
| 07 | Karlstad GP | Karlstad, Sweden |
| 11 | Meeting Città di Padova | Padua, Italy |
| Meeting International | Sotteville-Rouen, France | |
| August | ||
| 21 | CITIUS Meeting | Bern, Switzerland |
| 24 | Hungarian GP Series | Budapest, Hungary |
| September | ||
| 05 | Urban Athletics | Düsseldorf, Germany |