Russia’s athletics federation has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn its exclusion from international competition, opening a challenge to a suspension that has kept Russian track and field athletes out of major events for four years.
World Athletics barred athletes from Russia and Belarus from its competitions in March 2022, days after the invasion of Ukraine, and confirmed the suspension at a council meeting in July.
What is Russia arguing?
The federation said the decision affects the fundamental interests of athletics in Russia and restricts athletes’ right to compete on grounds it considers discriminatory. Its filing challenges the legality and proportionality of the restrictions, and argues that the criteria for readmission have been applied inconsistently.
World Athletics said it would strenuously defend its position. The court confirmed it had received a request for arbitration without indicating when it might be heard.
Why do sporting bodies disagree?
The appeal exposes a split between governing bodies. The International Olympic Committee has eased its restrictions on Russia ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games and recommended other federations do the same, a move the Kremlin called an important step.
World Athletics has not followed. Its president, Sebastian Coe, said the council had considered a conditional pathway back into international competition and decided against it, citing the absence of tangible movement towards peace negotiations.
Why are Russian athletes banned from track and field?
Russian track and field athletes have been excluded from international competition on two overlapping grounds. The Russian athletics federation was first suspended in 2015 after the World Anti-Doping Agency reported state-supported doping, and Russia has not competed under its own flag at a world athletics championships since. In March 2022, days after the invasion of Ukraine, World Athletics separately barred all athletes from Russia and Belarus from its events. The federation confirmed that exclusion at a council meeting in July 2026, with president Sebastian Coe saying a conditional route back had been considered and rejected. Russian Athletics has since filed a request for arbitration at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, arguing the restrictions are disproportionate and discriminatory. The International Olympic Committee has separately eased its own restrictions ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
How did the exclusion begin?
The current restrictions sit on top of an older one. Russia’s athletics federation was suspended in 2015 after the World Anti-Doping Agency documented what it described as state-supported doping, and Russian athletes have not competed under their national flag at a world championships since.
Some competed as authorised neutral athletes in the years that followed. The 2022 measure removed that route for track and field, on grounds unrelated to doping.
A ruling would set a boundary between sporting governance and foreign policy that extends well beyond athletics, since other federations face the same question ahead of 2028.
Belarusian athletes are covered by the same World Athletics measure and are not party to this filing.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is the final appellate body for most international sporting disputes. Its awards can be challenged only on narrow procedural grounds before the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
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Sources for this report
The Redline News Desk
The Redline News desk files and edits world reporting. Every story carries the sources it was built from, and corrections are published on the story itself.
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