The International Triathlon (ITU) announced today that the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Yokohama event will not take place on May 14, 2011 as originally scheduled. The ITU is working with the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), the City of Yokohama and the Japanese Triathlon Union (JTU) to find a suitable date for the event later in the 2011 schedule.

"We have been following the situation in Japan very closely and felt that once the Japanese Government raised the alert on the nuclear situation to the highest level of seven, it was too risky to stage an event there in May. The safety and health of our athletes, coaches, officials and staff should not be compromised," said Marisol Casado, ITU President and IOC Member. "We are in discussions to re-schedule it later in the season. Our thoughts and concerns are with the Japanese people as they recover from the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant situation."

This comes on the same day when officials in Japan announced that robots deployed inside two reactors at the Japanese nuclear plant have found radiation levels too high for workers to enter, posing immediate challenges for a new plan to bring the ravaged complex under control by year’s end.

Quite a few athletes had voiced concerns for several days now about possible safety issues at the race despite the 250k distance to the badly damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and 2008 Olympic Champion Jan Frodeno was among the most outspoken ones. Several other athletes had seemingly already made the decision to not travel to the race even if it were to take place.

It was in the news that over 10,000 tons of contaminated water had been pumped into the ocean to make room for water from inside the reactor buildings. That move has brought out big concerns from Japanese fishermen and from nearby countries, particularly South Korea and China. So the decision by the ITU to postpone the race will certainly be appreciated.

According to an article in the New York Times today "Japan’s Finance Ministry has said the damage from the earthquake and tsunami alone could reach $300 billion, making it the world’s most costly natural disaster. The toll from the nuclear disaster — which has disrupted farming and fishing, curtailed power supplies across eastern Japan, and inflicted other wounds on the economy — is yet to be tallied."

The 2011 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series Canada's Paula Findlay and Spain's Javier Gomez won the opening event of the 2011 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series in Sydney, Australia. With race #2 in Yokohama postponed, the next stop of the series will be in Madrid, Spain on June 4-5.