The former South African high jump champion, Chris Moleya, will be competing for the first time in an indoor athletics meeting on Sunday in Trinec, Czech Republic.
The Tuks athlete was hoping to try and qualify for the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China. The event has however been postponed to next year due to the coronavirus outbreak.
"We know that China is doing all it can to contain the new coronavirus and we support them in all their efforts," World Athletics said in a news release.
"The advice from our medical team, who are in contact with the World Health Organization, is that the spread of the coronavirus both within China and outside the country is still at a concerning level and no one should be going ahead with any major gathering that can be postponed."
Moleya is still looking forward to the new challenge.
"I am excited to see what I am capable of as last year for the first time I did a 'winter program'. I also started training in the gym. The heights I have been jumping during training indicates that I am in good form, however as it said it is one thing to train and something else to compete."
Apart from Sunday, he will also be competing Lucenec-Hustopece, Cech Republic (7 February) and De L'Eure, Paris (14 February). He might even compete in Slovenia on 11 February.
Moleya's coach, Hugo Badenhorst, said he would be happy if for now, he gets to jump 2.22m.
"It is still early in the season. I see Chris's participation as a good learning experience. The more he gets to compete internationally, the better it is as he will be gaining confidence all the time.
"The main aim is to get him to improve on his 2.27m performance of last year. Once he does, the next challenge is going to be 2.30m. That is a sort of benchmark in international high jumping. Once Chris starts jumping 2.30m, he is guaranteed to get invites to most of the major meetings.
"There are only a few small things in his technique that I need to sort out. Once that is done, there is no telling how high he is going to jump.
"As far I am concerned Chris is as talented as the former world champion, Jacques Freitag, was if not more. What impresses me about Chris is his self-believe. He has set himself specific goals, and he is going to achieve all of it. But I don't want him to be under pressure. The plan is that he should only be at his best in 2024."
Since 2015 the Tuks athlete has managed to improve his personal best by five centimetres. His immediate goal is to jump 2.30m.
"My coach, Hugo Badenhorst, keeps on telling me that I got real talent and that I should make the most of it. I know there is a big jump that is just waiting to happen. When it is, I don't know. I need to keep on being positive."
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