IAAF clears 33 Russians to race as neutrals

PARIS: Thirty-three more Russian athletes were cleared to compete as neutrals by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Friday, the latest development in the fall-out from the doping scandal which led to a ban on Russia in 2015.The 33 are all young athletes who will be clear to take part under a neutral flag at the world under-20 championships from July 19-24 in Tampere, Finland and the European under-18 tournament from July 5-8 at Gyor in Hungary.The system of allowing clean athletes to take part as neutrals has been used for the 2016 Olympics in Rio as well as at the World Championships in London in 2017 and for the 2018 indoor season.Friday’s announcement means that the list now contains 58 athletes. Some were able to compete at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, such as gold medal winning high-jumpers Maria Lasitskene and Danil Lysenko. However, 44 have been rejected by the anti-doping panel this year, said the IAAF, which said it has received more than 180 applications since last December.

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