Monaco, Dec 12 : The World Athletics Council has approved the qualification systems for the World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022 and the World Athletics U20 Championships Nairobi 2021. As was the case in 2019, athletes will be able to qualify for the World Championships by achieving an entry standard or through their placing on the world rankings. In line with the recommendation from the Race Walking Committee, approved by the Council last year and confirmed again last week, the World Championships will feature 20 km and 35 km race walking events for men and women in Oregon. The qualification period for the marathon and 35 km race walk opened on November 30 and ends on May 29, 2022. For the 10,000 m, 20 km race walk, relays and combined events, the window runs from December 27 until June 26, 2022. For all other disciplines, the qualification period is June 27, 2021 to June 26, 2022. Defending world champions will be offered a wild card entry, as will the winners of the 2021 Diamond League, Race Walk Challenge, Combined Events Challenge and the leading hammer performers on the Continental Tour. Area champions in selected disciplines and top-10 finishers at Platinum Label marathons during the qualification period shall also be considered as having achieved the entry standard. The target number of athletes for each discipline is the same as in 2019, with one exception: there will be 60 places available in both the men's and women's 35 km race walks; an increase on the 50 places for men and 30 places for women in the 50km race walk in 2019. With the World U20 Championships in Nairobi having been postponed from its original dates in 2020, the qualification period has been updated. The new qualification windows are: October 1 to April 5, 2020 and December 1, 2020 to August 8, 2021. /IANS