Lord Sebastian Coe, the President of the IAAF has said today that the lack of progress by Russia to its anti-doping reforms is extremely disapointing.
The statement comes less than a month after Coe praised the progress of Russia after telling the BBC that “the tough decisions we made are now starting to bear fruit.”
Russia has been banned from international athletics competition for the last two years following the McClaren report which alleged that more than 1,000 athletes benefitted from state sponsored doping.
Speaking at an IAAF Council meeting in London, Coe said “There is no reason why better progress has not been made.”
He added: “It’s not that complicated frankly, the criteria we laid down is the criteria that stands. There is no timeline here. We are going to see this through.”
The comments made by Coe were the same made by WADA Chief Olivier Niggli who last month said the Russian reforms were not happening quickly enough.
The IAAF taskforce announced that the six milestones set out for Russian reinstatement are still outstanding and does not look like they will be met any time soon.
It had been assumed that Russia would be allowed back into international competition following this summers World Championships in London.
The news comes after seven Russian athletes were allowed by the IAAF to be eligible to compete at London 2017 under a neutral banner.
