Russia’s two gold medalists from the 2015 World Championships were among seven athletes from the country cleared to compete as neutral athletes by the IAAF on Tuesday.
Sergey Shubenkov and Maria Kuchina, reigning world champions in the 110m hurdles and high jump, respectively, can now compete internationally for the first time in more than one year.
Russia has been banned from international track and field since November 2015 due to serious doping issues. One Russian track and field athlete competed in Rio, long jumper Darya Klishina as a neutral athlete.
Russia’s ban is set to last through the 2017 season, including the world championships in London in August.
A doping review board examines applications by Russians to compete as neutral athletes. The IAAF has received about 100 applications this year and ruled on 27 so far, accepting 10 and declining 17.
“There can be no time constraints on a process which has been established to safeguard the rights and aspirations of the world’s clean athletes and is about rebuilding confidence in competition,” IAAF president Seb Coe said in a press release. “For the avoidance of any doubt as we have consistently stated from the beginning of this process, all athletes given exceptional eligibility will compete as independent neutral athletes and not as a Russian team.”
Twelve Russian athletes total have been cleared to compete as neutral athletes since July:
Illia Mudrov (pole vault)
Sergey Shubenkov (sprint hurdles)
Sergey Shirobokov (race walks)
Daniil Tsyplakov (high jump)
Maria Kuchina (high jump)
Olga Mullina (pole vault)
Yana Smerdova (race walks)
Anzhelika Sidorova (pole vault)
Kristina Sivkova (sprints)
Aleksei Sokirskii (hammer throw)
Darya Klishina (long jump, cleared in 2016)
Yuliya Stepanova (800m/1500m, cleared in 2016)
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