World Athletics said on Thursday that athletes from Russia and Belarus would remain prohibited from competition, including qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris next year, as part of sanctions for the war in Ukraine.
The move sets up a high-profile showdown between one of the largest sporting federations and the International Olympic Committee.
The sporting body, which administers competition rules and world championships for track and field, marathons and race walking, said athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus would be excluded from all such events “for the foreseeable future” and that a working group would be devised to determine conditions necessary for their potential re-inclusion at a later date.