OTTAWA – Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 Junior / Senior Canadian Championships and the U17 / U19 Canadian Championships & Cadet Trials, citing continued concerns for health and safety of all participants.

In addition, the 2021 Canada Cup will not be run as an international event.

The 2021 Junior / Senior Canadian Championships was scheduled for March 19 to 21 in London, Ont., and the U17 / U19 Canadian Championships & Cadet Trials was set for March 26 to 28, 2021 in Edmonton.

WCL utilized a COVID contingency planning framework to help inform the decision-making process for event hosting for 2021.

The Board of Directors convened this week to review whether any of the previously identified conditions could be met to consider proceeding with the events as scheduled. They could not be met, and the safety risk was deemed too high.

WCL maintains a strong desire to return to training and competition as quickly as possible, provided that appropriate health and safety conditions can be met. We continue to monitor the situation closely and thank everyone for following the guidance of our public health authorities.

WCL is now considering the best alternative options for team selection, ranking and carding, as well as age group event participation, as part of that COVID contingency planning framework.

We thank the staff, committees, and Board of Directors for their continued commitment throughout this process. We also thank the athletes, coaches, PTSOs and other members of the wrestling family for their continued patience and resilience. We understand the impact of this decision and appreciate the challenges that the training and competition disruptions continue to have, which we continue to look to overcome.