Russian athletics federation chief Yevgeny Yurchenko resigns amid new doping troubles

Moscow: The president of Russia’s suspended athletics federation resigned from his post on Monday as the federation grapples with new doping setbacks that could keep its athletes further sidelined from international competitions. Yevgeny Yurchenko, a businessman and former deputy regional governor, had been in the position since late February. He did not provide a reason for his resignation. The federation’s troubles have piled up in recent months, with some of its officials and senior coaches having found themselves embroiled in doping scandals. Most recently the federation missed a 1 July deadline to pay millions of dollars to World Athletics, putting on hold the chances of its track and field athletes being able to compete internationally as neutrals. World Athletics had handed the federation a $10 million fine for breaching anti-doping rules in March. At the time World Athletics reinstated the process by which Russian athletes could apply to compete internationally as neutrals after demonstrating that they are training in a doping-free environment. It said, however, that this process would again be suspended if half of the fine was not paid by 1 July. World Athletics said this month that the Doping Review Board, which reviews Russians’ applications to compete internationally, and the Russian Taskforce overseeing the federation’s reinstatement efforts were standing down until a meeting of its Council later this month. The federation was suspended by the global body governing body in 2015 after a report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found evidence of mass doping among Russian track and field athletes.