World Triathlon has imposed sanctions on the Russian Triathlon Federation (RTF) which will be in effect for one year due to a “significant number” of doping cases in the country, the governing body said in a statement https: / /triathlon.org/news / article / world_triathlon_sanctions_the_russian_triathlon_federation Monday.
As part of the sanctions, Russia will not be able to organize any world or European triathlon events before the end of 2022, and RTF officials will have to resign from the governing bodies of the events for a period of one year. RTF was also urged to reach an agreement with the Russian Anti-Doping Agency to test all athletes in the country, as well as to refund cash prizes previously awarded to Russian triathletes sanctioned for doping offenses.
In October, Russian triathlete Igor Polyanskiy became the first athlete to be formally disqualified from the Tokyo Olympics after being suspended for three years after testing positive for the banned substance EPO. Former European Championships silver medalist Alexander Bryukhankov was given an identical ban later in the month, while Vladimir Turbayevskiy was banned from competing in August for anomalies in his biological passport.
“World Triathlon is fully committed to the fight against all forms of doping in sport,” the governing body said on its website. “As unequivocal confirmation of its commitment to eradicate the use of prohibited substances and methods in triathlon, World Triathlon continues to devote time, effort, energy and a substantial budget to its anti-doping mission.”
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