ROAD RACING
Former marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang was banned for four years Friday after a series of missed doping tests.
A ruling published by the Athletics Integrity Unit states that the Kenyan runner was found to have missed three tests and failed to provide timely information on his whereabouts on a fourth occasion, all in 2018 and 2019.
Kipsang was also found to have tampered with the doping control process by making false claims in relation to two of the missed tests.
Kipsang won the bronze medal in the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics and broke the world record the following year in Berlin. He held the record until Dennis Kimetto bettered his time the year after. Kipsang has also won the London Marathon twice and the New York and Tokyo Marathons once each.
HOCKEY
BELARUS MATCH FIXING: Seven ice hockey players have been suspended during an investigation into match-fixing in the Belarus league.
The players – five from Belarus and two from Russia – told a domestic investigation they were paid to help arrange the outcome of a game in November, the International Ice Hockey Federation said on Friday.
“During the investigation, each of the players also admitted that they had agreed to exert an unlawful influence on the outcome of the game in exchange for illegal remuneration,” the governing body said in a statement.
The IIHF said its disciplinary board had taken over the case “for further review and sanctioning.” The case involves Dynamo Molodechno’ losing to Mogilyov 6-5 in a Belarus Extraliga game. The players have been suspended from taking part in any competition organized by the IIHF or its member federations.
DOPING
RUSSIA: The president of Russia’s track and field federation said Friday it is “catastrophic” to suspend Russian athletes’ applications to compete over a $5 million unpaid fine for breaking anti-doping rules.
Yevgeny Yurchenko said World Athletics had ignored the impact of the coronavirus pandemic when it held Russia to a Wednesday deadline for payment, which was missed. World Athletics said Thursday it was freezing the work of the panel which vets Russians who want to compete internationally with “authorized neutral athlete” status. Russia owes a $5 million fine and $1.3 million in other costs.
The freeze lasts until the World Athletics council meets July 29-30 and could prevent some top Russians competing when the Diamond League restarts next month.
“It is a great pity that in this situation the main blow – terrible, catastrophic – is landing on our athletes, who are hostages of the mistakes which were made in a previous period by people known to us,” Yurchenko said in a statement.
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