IAAF extends Russia ban

Russian athletes remain unable to compete under their own flag after the sport’s governing body yesterday extended the country’s ban into a fourth year.

The Russian Athletics Federation (Rusaf) was suspended in November 2015, when a World Anti-doping Agency (Wada) report revealed widespread doping in the country.

Wada controversially decided to reinstate the Russian Anti-doping Agency this September on the condition that Russia recognised the findings of that report and allowed access to its stored urine samples from the Moscow laboratory before a Dec 31 deadline.

With those two conditions yet to be fully met, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has held firm on its ban and voted to extend it for a ninth time. The IAAF is also seeking compensation for its costs.

Rune Andersen, IAAF task force chairman, said: “The Athletics Integrity Unit must confirm that it has been given all of the data and access to the samples that it needs to determine which Russian athletes in the database have a case to answer for breach of the anti-doping rules.

“Secondly, Rusaf must pay all of the costs incurred in the work of the task force and in bringing or defending Russian cases at the CAS [Court of Arbitration for Sport].

“The task force hopes that Rusaf and the Russian authorities will now take all steps necessary to meet these conditions.”

Russian authorities, despite accepting there was extensive doping in the country, have continually denied it was state sponsored.

Weeks after Wada ended Russia’s suspension in September, Rusaf launched a legal challenge to overturn the athletics ban by appealing to the CAS. That appeal is yet to be heard.