WARSAW, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Seven speed skaters of the Poland national team have tested positive for COVID-19, informed the Polish Speed Skating Federation in the official statement on Friday.
The team is preparing for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China. The plan of the preparation contained the training camp in Inzell, Germany. However, the Polish speed skaters returned to Poland prematurely after the seven members of the team tested positive for COVID-19.
The director of the Poland Speed Skating Federation Konrad Niedzwiedzki confirmed the information and he added that the team had to be quarantined.
"Two days ago, the Polish team received information that two members of the German national team, training at the same facilities, are infected with the coronavirus. We immediately decided that our entire team should be tested," explained Niedzwiedzki.
"The quarantine will last ten days and only after two negative tests the infected skaters will be able to return to training with the group. Everyone was ready to take off and there was no indication that anyone was sick. Unfortunately, the coronavirus did not spare us, and now we have to deal with it," added the bronze medalist from Sochi.
The unexpected return to Poland seemed to be a problem for the team and changed the preparation plan for Beijing 2022 in China. For now, it is not known what the next season will look like, because the International Ice Skating Union (ISU) has recently announced that there will be no speed skating World Cup competition in 2020.
"We regret that such a decision was made, because we have to return to the competition as soon as possible, and the federations managing other sports disciplines show us that it can be done. We will do everything to prevent this lack of competing in the World Cup. All healthy speed skaters will continue training in Poland in the coming days," Niedzwiedzki was quoted as saying by the Polish Press Agency on Friday.
Currently, only national events are included in the calendar of the Polish Speed Skating Federation. On October 28-31 the speed skaters from the long track will compete in the Ice Arena in Tomaszow Mazowiecki in the Polish long-distance championship.