The world athletic governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) council has approved the qualification system and entry standards for the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo and the timelines that the athletes need to achieve the said standard.
The IAAF believes that despite the qualification standards looking difficult at first glance, athletes will have more opportunities to achieve Olympic entry standards under the new system. The qualification period will start on 1st May 2019 and will end on 29th June 2020 to include more international competitions in the likes of the Diamond league. The qualification period for the marathon and 50km race walk will close at the end of May 2020 (instead of 29 June), to give the qualified athletes more time to prepare specifically for the Games.
The IAAF council has decided to introduce a dual qualification system, combining both the entry standards and the new World Ranking System, to determine which athletes are eligible for Olympic selection in 2020.
Under this new qualification process, an athlete can qualify for the 2020 Olympics in one of two ways:
- Achieve the entry standard within the respective qualification period
- Qualify by virtue of his/her IAAF World Ranking position in the selected event at the end of the respective qualification period.
The process is designed to achieve about 50 percent of the target numbers for each event through entry standards and the remaining 50 percent through the IAAF world ranking system.
The IAAF consulted with the Competition, Athletes’ and Coaches’ Commissions prior to this decision and will continue working with the Athletes’ Commission, the Athletes Representatives (ARs) and the Member Federations (MFs) to ensure the qualification system is well understood. Workshops will be scheduled with athletes, ARs and MFs during this year.
IAAF announced qualification standards for 2020 Olympics
| Men’s’ | Event | Women’s’ |
| 10.05 | 100M | 11.15 |
| 20.24 | 200M | 22.80. |
| 44.90 | 400M | 51.35. |
| 1:45.20. | 800M | 1:59.50. |
| 3:35.00. | 1500M | 4:04.20. |
| 13:13.50. | 5000M | 15:10.00. |
| 27:28.00. | 10000M | 31:25.00. |
| 13.32 | 110MH/100MH | 12.84. |
| 48.90 | 400MH | 55.40. |
| 8:22.00. | 3000MSC | 9:30.00. |
| 2.33 | High Jump | 1.96 |
| 5.80 | Pole Vault | 4.70. |
| 8.22 | Long Jump | 6.82. |
| 17.14 | Triple Jump | 14.32. |
| 21.10 | Shot Put | 18.50. |
| 66.00 | Discus Throw | 63.50. |
| 77.50 | Hammer Throw | 72.50. |
| 85.00 | Javelin Throw | 64.00. |
| 8350.00 | Decathlon / Heptathlon | 6420 |
| 1:21.00. | 20Km Race Walk | 1:31.00. |
| 3:50.00. | 50Km Race Walk | N/A |
| 2:11.30. | Marathon | 2:29.30. |
The announced qualification standards however cast a shadow of doubt on the possibility of any Sri Lankan athletes making the cut. Most of the set standards are better than the existing national record of the event in Sri Lanka and will take an exemplary performance by the athletes if they are reach them. It is also the responsibility of the relevant authorities to provide the athletes with maximum exposure and competition by looking at sending the athletes to overseas competitions during the period between 1st May 2019 and 29th June 2020 so they may have maximum opportunities to qualify for the all important Olympics
 council has approved the qualification system and entry standards for the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo and the timelines that the athletes need to achieve the said standard.){kind=link}