Track stymies Russian path to Olympics due to war in Ukraine

By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer

Track and field leaders have signaled it will be nearly impossible for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in that sport at the Paris Olympics next year if the war in Ukraine continues. The World Athletics Council kept its ban on Russian athletes in international events in place “for the foreseeable future.” The move goes directly against the International Olympic Committee’s efforts to find a way for Russian athletes to compete as neutrals in Paris. World Athletics will form a working group will to determine under what conditions Russians might return to international competition. The move came on the same day that World Athletics lifted a seven-year suspension of Russia’s track federation for a doping scandal that dates back a decade.