World Championships: Russian athletes to compete as 'neutral'

Russian athletes will compete as neutral at the Doha Athletics World Championships as the IAAF was yet to reinstate the status of the Russian Athletics Federation.

30 Russian athletes will take part in the competition as authorised neutral athletes in the World Athletics Championships in Doha.

Russian athletes are permitted to attend the upcoming Doha Athletics World Championships as Authorised Neutral Athletes as the IAAF was yet to reinstate the status of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF).

In the council meeting of world athletics governing body IAAF which took place on Monday, Rune Andersen, the independent chairman of the IAAF Taskforce, said there was “a recurring problem” of banned coaches working with athletes, reports Xinhua news agency.

Andersen said for now it was hard “to tell if the reported measures taken by RusAF will work, therefore the associated conditions for reinstatement have not been met.”

Therefore in Doha, 30 Russian athletes will take part in the competition as authorised neutral athletes.

The Doha world championships run from September 27 to October 6.