IAAF clears 16 Russians to compete as neutrals

PARIS: Sixteen Russian athletes, including 2013 world long jump champion Aleksandr Menkov, were given the green light Sunday to compete internat ional ly as neutrals, world athletics’ governing body announced.

The International Association of Athletics Federations ( IAAF) said its doping review board had agreed that the applications of the athletes met the exceptional eligibility criteria to compete in international competition as neutral athletes, while the Russian national federation ( RusAF) remains suspended.

The athletes were named as Menkov, Viktor Butenko (discus), Timofey Chalyy (400m hurdles), Danil Danilov ( hammer), Olga Eliseeva (race walks - European U20 Championships only) , Alexey Fedorov ( triple jump), Irina Gemeniuk ( triple jump), Irina Gordeeva ( high jump), Viacheslav Kolesnichenko (sprints), Aleksandr Lesnoi (shot put), Konstantin Lyadusov (shot put), Iuliia Maltseva ( discus), A lena Mamina ( spr int s) , Viktoriia Prokopenko ( triple jump), Ilya Shkurenev (decathlon) and Valentin Smirnov ( middle distance).

In addition, the board extended neutral athlete status for three athletes who had previously been approved to be able to compe t e at the Eu ropean U20 Championships: Aksana Gataullina ( pole vault), Polina Mi l ler ( sprint s) and Yana Smerdova (race walks).

“The participation of all these athletes as neutral athletes in international competition is still subject to formalities for eligibility under IAAF Rules being completed and subject to acceptance of their entries by individual meeting organisers,” IAAF said in a statement.

In total this year 39 applications have been approved, of which nine are for the forthcoming IAAF World U18 Championships.

“It is important to reiterate that this review process is about ensuring there is a level playing field in which the world’s clean athletes have confidence,” said IAAF president Sebastian Coe.

“It’s a huge task and one which cannot be rushed if we are to ensure the rights and aspirations of clean athletes are protected.” — AFP