Russia heads to sports court to overturn its ban from international track and field

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Russia’s track and field federation says it has gone to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn a World Athletics ruling suspending its athletes from international events due to the war in Ukraine.

World Athletics excluded all athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus from its international events in March 2022, days after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

It kept that suspension in place at a council meeting last week. Since then, the International Olympic Committee has eased its restrictions on Russia ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics — something the Kremlin hailed as an “important step” — and recommended that other sports bodies do the same.

“Russian Athletics notes that World Athletics’ decision affects the fundamental interests of athletics in Russia and restricts Russian athletes’ right to compete, on grounds that Russian Athletics considers discriminatory,” the Russian track federation said in a statement.

“Russian Athletics continues to pursue all available legal measures to protect the interests of Russian athletes.”

World Athletics vowed to defend the case.

“We take note of the Russian athletics federation’s appeal to CAS, and we will be strenuously defending our position,” it said in a statement. 

CAS confirmed it has received “a request for arbitration” without giving details of when it could be heard.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said last week his organization discussed options for “a conditional pathway back into international competition” for Russian and Belarusian athletes, but opted against.

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