The number of Russian athletes cleared to compete under a neutral flag, has now risen to 47 after another eight were approved by the sport’s governing body to return to international action, making them eligible for next month’s World Championships in London.
The IAAF says its doping review panel has cleared another eight athletes, while refusing another 53 applications.
“This process was about supporting the hopes and aspirations for all clean athletesLord Coe, IAAF president
The latest batch of approved athletes include Sergey Litvinov, a hammer thrower who won a bronze medal at the European Championships in Zurich in 2014, who is the son of the great Soviet hammer thrower of the same name, an Olympic gold medal-winner and two-times world champion in the 1980s.
Among the other athletes cleared is Danil Lysenko, a 20-year-old high jumper, who won gold at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, as well as Alayna Lutkovskaya, the former world junior champion pole vaulter. The others are Ilia Ivaniuk, a high jumper, Sofia Palkina and Valery Pronkin, who are hammer throwers, Vladislav Saraykin, a race walker, and Yekaterina Sokolenko, who competes in the 3,000 metres steeplechase.
Russia has been barred from international competition since November 2015, after an investigation uncovered state-sponsored doping and cover-ups.
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But since the start of the year there has been a rush of Russian athletes aiming to compete under a neutral flag after it became clear that the Russia ban would not be lifted.
Athletes must be able to prove a satisfactory history of drug-testing to be allowed to compete, although problems with the new Russian anti-doping agency mean that for many, testing has not been thorough enough.
The panel declined 53 applications in the latest batch, meaning that 109 applications have been declined in total.
“From the beginning we have declared this process was about supporting the hopes and aspirations for all clean athletes, including Russian athletes, who have been failed by their national system,” Lord Coe, the IAAF president, said. “I wish to thank the Doping Review Board for their diligent work assessing these applications.”
Of the 47 athletes approved so far, nine were approved specifically so they could compete in the World Under-18 Championships in Nairobi this month and a further two were approved for the European Under-20 Championships.
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All athletes will still have to achieve a qualifying standard before being eligible to compete at the World Championships in London.