Russian athletes remain banned from athletics' international events

World Athletics is sticking to its policy and Russian and Belarussian athletes remain banned from international competitions, including the world championships starting on Saturday in Tokyo.

"We need a peaceful resolution," Wolrd Athletics president Sebastian Coe said referring to Russia's war in Ukraine, which started in 2022.

"Nothing has changed. But I sincerely hope that something will change - not just for athletics, because it's an untenable situation.

Russia was banned in November 2015 due to systematic doping. Since then, World Athletics has only granted individual Russian athletes permission to compete as neutral athletes after review. A separate ban then followed due to the war in Ukraine.