Russia stance will be defended in court, pledges World Athletics chief Coe

Russian Athletics has lodged new claim at Court of Arbitration for Sport to challenge sanctions, but WA will fight it.World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has pledged to be present in court to defend his governing body’s sanctions imposed on Russia.Russia’s athletics federation has lodged a new claim at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to challenge the World Athletics sanctions.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4New Zealand break ranks with Oceania as FIFA’s Infantino divide growslist 2 of 4La Liga: Five key talking points heading into Barcelona’s 2026-27 seasonlist 3 of 4South Korea players want K League season change due to ‘worsening climate’list 4 of 4Pro-Palestine football fans lament West Ham for signing Manor Solomonend of listThe global body for track and field announced in July it was keeping in place a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes that was imposed in March 2022 following Russia’s Ukraine" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="129729" data-entity-type="event">invasion of Ukraine.The Russian federation, Russian Athletics, claims the sanctions are “selective and politicised”.“The current restrictions infringe on the organisation’s rights and prevent it from fully representing the interests of Russian athletes on an international level,” it said.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that Russian athletes will be allowed to compete in team events and qualifying competitions for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.“We made it clear that we wanted to ensure all athletes have the possibility to compete at the Olympic Games and not be held responsible for their government’s actions,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry said.The stance of World Athletics, headed by Britain’s two-time Olympic 1,500-metre gold medallist Coe, is in contrast to the federations of other Olympic sports.World Gymnastics and the International Skating Union, for example, have eased restrictions on Russian competitors.Coe was in no mood late Thursday to back off, telling journalists on the sidelines of the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham that he still fully believed in World Athletics’ policy.