World Athletics extends doping ban on Russian track and field athletes

World Athletics announced an extension of its doping ban on Russian track and field athletes on Wednesday (November 17). The World Athletics Federation conducted a vote over the doping suspension matter, which resulted in a continuation of the ban period on the Russian athletes.

At least 126 national federations came out to vote in connection with the ban extension matter.

Rune Andersen, the head of the World Athletics task force, stated that RusAF has made steady progress towards meeting the criteria for its reinstatement within World Athletics.

Earlier, World Athletics had given the green signal to the applications of several Russian athletes under the eligibility Rule 3.2. Nearly 150 Russian athletes have so far been stated eligible to compete as authorized neutral athletes in 2021.

The World Athletics Council approved the restoration of the authorized neutral athlete (ANA) program for clean athletes from Russia in March 2021. Meanwhile, the Russian national federation (RusAF) remains suspended.

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Rune Andersen outlines World Athletics' decision of maintaining Russian athletes suspension

World Athletics task force head Rune Andersen gave a presentation which provided a detailed description of staying on the Russian athletes doping ban matter. The suspension will enter its seventh year following a ban imposed in November 2015, owing to revelations of state-run doping.

"RusAF has made steady progress towards meeting the conditions set for its reinstatement to membership of World Athletics. The Taskforce does feel that these changes are reflective of a new culture within RusAF, one that is generally looking to reject the doping practices of the past and to commit to competing clean moving forward," stated Rune Andersen's report.

Andersen's report also observed changes that the new RusAF team had shown "a genuine commitment." He has also urged athletes who have not imbibed the new culture and changes to be careful.

"There are still people in Russian athletics who have not embraced this new culture, and there is still much work for RusAF to do to ensure that they do not exercise influence," warned Andersen.

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