IAAF revokes Lysenko's neutral athlete status

The IAAF ruling effectively rules out Danil Lysenko's participation from European Athletics Championships starting in Berlin on August 6. Image: Twitter

Bengaluru, August 3: The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has decided to provisionally suspend and revoke the Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) status granted to high jumper Danil Lysenko.

The IAAF ruling means Lysenko is ineligible to compete at the 2018 European Athletics Championships to be held in Berlin from August 6 to 12.

The decision which has been conveyed to Russian Athletics Federation was taken by AIU after Lysenko's failure to provide whereabouts information as required under the IAAF Anti-Doping Rules and Regulations and to make himself available for out-of-competition testing by the AIU.

"The decision... has been made as a result of Mr Lysenko's failure to provide whereabouts information as required under the IAAF Anti-Doping Rules and Regulations and to make himself available for out-of-competition testing by the AIU," the IAAF said in a statement.

IAAF announced the decision on their Twitter handle as well.

Russia was banned by the IAAF in 2015 following an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation into allegations, still denied by Moscow, of state-sponsored doping.

Some Russian athletes, however, were cleared to compete internationally by demonstrating to the IAAF that their training environment meets the required anti-doping standards and Lysenko was one among them.

The 20-year-old is the reigning indoor champion where he beat outdoor champion Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim in the final in Birmingham in March this year.

A healthy rivalry was building up between Lysenko and Barshim in high jump.

Barshim clinched gold in the London World Championships in August, 2017, incidentally becoming the first from the tiny Middle East country to accomplish it, while Lysenko had to settle for silver.

But seven months later, Lysenko turned the table on Barshim in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham.

With the AIU charging and provisionally suspending Lysenko for the breaches of WADA regulations and Barshim out of the season with an injury, one will have to wait for a while before they see the duo face off against each other.

(With inputs from IAAF and Agencies).