Russia stripped of world champ event after doping report
Russia is in disgrace and Sochi is paying the price.
The winter city has been stripped of next year’s bobsleigh and skeleton World Championships in the wake of the second McLaren report into state-sponsored doping in Russia.
The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation had come under increasing pressure to take the event away from the 2014 Winter Olympics host city.
Britain’s Olympic skeleton champion Lizzy Yarnold was one athlete who earlier told the BBC she was thinking about boycotting the event because of concerns over doping.
The ban follows last week’s damning report by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren, which implicated over a thousand Russian athletes in a state-sponsored doping programme including many Winter Olympians.
The IBSF said in a statement that it was moving the competition to ensure it remained focused on “sport rather than accusations and discussions – whether justified or not” and that the efforts of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation in putting on the event would be “nearly impossible to appreciate” in the “current climate”.
“Having stated that, the IBSF asks all Members and athletes for Fair Play and Respect, which also includes the assumption of innocence for any athlete, regardless of national affiliation, until proven guilty.”
It said a new host location would be determined in the coming days.