athletics

European Championships Cancellation Delivers Another Blow

April 23, 2020 6:24 pm

Athletics was left with the prospect of a lost season on Thursday after this summer’s European Championships, set to be held in Paris, were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, the event’s organising committee and French Athletics Federation (FFA) said they “wished to adopt a responsible position by putting human health and the fight against the spread of the virus before any other consideration”.

The championships were scheduled for August 25-30. The cancellation follows the postponement in March of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021 and the announcement earlier on Thursday of the postponement of Diamond League events …

Russia Picks New Athletics Chief As Doping Crisis Deepens

November 23, 2019 3:35 pm

Yulia Tarasenko was appointed as interim president of Russia’s athletics body on Saturday following the suspension of previous head Dmitry Shlyakhtin by World Athletics.

Tarasenko, the RUSAF sports director and head of the athletics federation of St. Petersburg, immediately saught to reassure Russian athletes she would fight their corner.

“We’re not in a very joyful mood, the situation is very difficult in the federation, but we think there is a chance to fight for the federation,” she said.

“We represent athletes and they should not suffer,” the new acting president Tarasenko told journalists.

Tarasenko was picked from three candidates after

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World Athletics Suspends Russia Readmission Process

November 22, 2019 3:26 pm

World Athletics announced on Friday it had suspended the reinstatement process of Russian athletics and was contemplating expelling the country entirely from the sport.

The news comes a day after the president of the Russian athletics federation (RUSAF) and other senior officials were suspended for “serious breaches” of anti-doping rules, putting the nation’s track and field athletes’ participation at next year’s Tokyo Olympics in further danger.

The head of World Athletics Sebastian Coe described those banned as ‘renegade factions’.

“The people we were dealing with have all been suspended,” …