Twelve Russian track and field athletes suspended for doping

LAUSANNE: Twelve Russian track and field athletes, including 2012 Olympic high jump champion Ivan Ukhov, have been suspended for doping, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on Friday.

The suspensions range between two to eight-year bans, with 2013 world high jump gold medallist Svetlana Shkolina also suspended.CAS had been ruling in the cases in place of the suspended Russian Athletics Federation (RUSAF), and pursued allegations of anti-doping based on evidence from the McLaren report, which uncovered state-sponsored doping in Russia when it was published in 2016. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned Russia from competing in its competitions in November 2015 and last month upheld the country’s suspension into 2019, and CAS opened procedures against the suspected dopers “on behalf” of the IAAF.

“In all cases, the athletes have been found guilty of ADRVs (anti-doping rule violations) under the IAAF Rules and individual sanctions have been imposed by the CAS on each of the 12 athletes concerned,” CAS said in a statement.

The court added that the decisions, all focusing on offences committed between the London Olympics and 2013 athletics world championships in Moscow, could be appealed within the next 21 days.