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The World Athletics Doping Review Board (DRB) has agreed that the applications of 33 Russian athletes have met the exceptional eligibility criteria to compete in international competition as neutral athletes (ANA) in 2022 under Eligibility Rule 3.2 while the Russian national federation (RusAF) remains suspended.
All Russian athletes who are approved to compete as neutral athletes in 2022 are subject to a strict drug-testing process, and no more than 20 ANAs (in total, not per competition) will be allowed to compete at the four senior World Athletics Series events this year.
Those 20 athletes must be chosen by RusAF from athletes in the International Registered Testing Pool in priority to any other athletes. The DRB has also requested that those 20 athletes be selected from a “long list” of 50 athletes, who will be subject to regular drug-testing.
The ANA quota of 20 will be automatically reduced by 25% for each separate failure to comply with the ANA requirements.
The 33 athletes who have now met the exceptional eligibility criteria for 2022 are:
Veronika Arkhipova (400m or less)
Rinas Akhmadeyev (3000m, 5000m, 10,000m, half marathon)
Semen Borodayev (shot put, discus)
Iurii (Yuri) Chechun (marathon)
Elvira Chepareva (Khasanova) (race walk)
Aksana Gataullina (pole vault)
Darya Golubechkova (race walk)
Dmitriy Gramachkov (race walk) - U20 only
Konstantin Kholmogorov (800m)
Stepan Kiselev (marathon)
Kristina Koroleva (high jump)
Mikhail Kulkov (marathon)
Aleksandr Lesnoy (shot put)
Denis Lukyanov (hammer)
Alena Lutkovskaia (pole vault)
Alena Lysenko (hammer)
Kristina Makarenko, née Sivkova (50m, 100m, 200m)
Timur Morgunov (pole vault)
Olga Mullina (pole vault)
Sofiya Palkina (hammer)
Yekaterina Petrova (5000m race walk, 10,000m race walk) - U20 only
Mariya Privalova (triple jump, long jump)
Andrey Romanov (hammer)
Yelena Sborets (race walk) - U20 only
Nadezhda Sergeeva (race walk)
Konstantin Shabanov (60m hurdles, 110m hurdles)
Fedor Shutov (marathon, half marathon)
Kirill Shutov (race walk)
Yelena Sokolova (long jump)
Snezhana Trofimets (shot put)
Yuliya Turova (race walk)
Matvey Tychinkin (high jump)
Viktoriya Vaseykina (heptathlon, pentathlon)
A total of 55 Russian athletes have so far been declared eligible to compete as authorised neutral athletes in 2022. One application has been rejected.
Requirements for ANA athletes
Further to the World Athletics Council decision on 1 December 2021 to approve amendments to the Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) programme for 2022 on the recommendation of the Russian Taskforce, the Doping Review Board (DRB) reviewed and revised the process and the criteria for ANA applications.
Athletes will need to follow the procedures set out in the guidance documents and all applications must be forwarded to World Athletics through RusAF.
Applications must be submitted no later than four weeks before the entry deadline for the international competition for which eligibility is sought and the Doping Review Board may require an applicant to undergo additional testing prior to granting him or her ANA status.
The Russian Federation (RusAF) may choose which 20 athletes (in total, not per competition) will be granted eligibility to compete (as ANAs) in the following international competitions:
(a) the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championship to be held in Muscat, OMA, in March 2022;
(b) the World Athletics Indoor Championships to be held in Belgrade, SRB, in March 2022;
(c) the World Athletics Championships to be held in Oregon, USA, in July 2022;
(d) the European Championships to be held in Munich, GER, in August 2022;
(e) the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships to be held in Yangzhou, CHN, in November 2022.
(f) the European Cross Country Championships to be held in Turin, ITA, in December 2022.
The 20 selected ANAs must be chosen from athletes in the International Registered Testing Pool in priority to any other athletes. No changes may be made to the 20 designated ANAs, for any reason, once they have been nominated by RusAF.
There is no cap on the number of Russian athletes who may compete (if invited, and if they have been granted ANA status) in international competitions that are not listed above. And no cap applies to the World Athletics U20 Championships to be held in Cali, COL, in August 2022.
On 22 January 2022 the DRB requested RusAF to provide a ‘long list’ identifying to the best of RusAF’s knowledge and after careful consideration, those athletes (a maximum of 50) from which RusAF expects to choose its quota of 20 ANAs for major championships.
To ensure that the ‘long list’ of ANA athletes continue to undergo adequate testing throughout the season (after they are granted ANA status) RusAF is required to:
Confirm to the AIU two weeks before the date of each competition throughout the season at which a ‘long list’ ANA athlete intends to compete that:
• for athletes seeking to compete in a senior World Championships or Area Championships event, in the 10 months prior to the competition, the athlete has undergone at least three no notice out-of-competition tests, including (if they compete in any middle distance event from 800m upwards, a long distance event, a combined event or a race walk event) at least one ABP and one EPO test, all such tests to be conducted no less than three weeks apart; and,
• for athletes seeking to compete in any other competition, that in the 12 months prior to the competition, the athlete has undergone at least three no notice out-of-competition tests, all such tests to be conducted no less than three weeks apart.
Should RusAF wish, in an exceptional case, to choose an athlete to make up their quota of 20 ANAs who is not on their ‘long list’, RusAF must advise the DRB as soon as possible, but in any event, no less than six weeks before the first day of competition. Furthermore, at the time the athlete is named as a quota athlete, the DRB may require the athlete to undergo additional testing prior to competition.
The DRB also requires that to ensure that out-of-competition tests are carried out over a sufficient interval, a period of at least six months must have elapsed between the first and last out-of-competition tests on which the athlete relies. Should an applicant fail to meet that requirement, the DRB may direct the athlete to undergo additional testing prior to competition as a condition of granting ANA status.
2022 authorised neutral athletes
Announced on 22 January (date of eligibility stated): Dina Aleksandrova (800m, 1500m, 5000m) 27.1.22; Svetlana Aplachkina (1500m, 3000m, 5000m) 31.1.22; Yelizaveta Bondarenko (pole vault) 28.1.22; Aleksandr Buyanovskiy (400m) 3.2.22; Vera Chalaya (400m hurdles, 400m) 28.1.22; Timofey Chalyy (400m hurdles, 400m) 28.1.22; Alexey Fyodorov (triple jump) 27.1.22; Ilya Ivanyuk (high jump) 25.1.22; Polina Knoroz (pole vault) 5.2.22; Mariya Kochanova (high jump) 27.1.22; Aleksandr Komarov (decathlon, heptathlon) 27.1.22; Kseniya Labygina (60m hurdles) 28.1.22; Mariya Lasitskene (high jump) 28.1.22; Artyom Makarenko (combined events, 60m hurdles, 110m hurdles) 3.2.22; Polina Miller (400m) 27.1.22; Vasiliy Mizinov (race walking) 28.1.22; Valeriy Pronkin (hammer) 28.1.22; Anzhelika Sidorova (pole vault) 28.1.22; Oleg Spiridonov (60m hurdles, 110m hurdles) 27.1.22; Natalya Spiridonova (long jump, high jump) 7.2.22; Yaroslav Tkalich (sprints, 400m or less) 27.1.22; Anna Tropina (3000m steeplechase, 1500m, 5000m, cross country) 28.1.22
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