Russia’s Ikonnikov suspended for doping violation

MOSCOW: Russian hammer thrower Kirill Ikonnikov, who finished fifth at this year’s London Olympics, has been suspended after failing a drugs test.
“The test taken from Kirill Ikonnikov on Oct. 8 on behalf of the sport’s world governing body IAAF has shown a prohibited substance,” the country’s anti-doping agency (RUSADA) said on its website (www.rusada.ru) on Thursday.
The athlete has been provisionally suspended, pending the result of the B sample, RUSADA said.
Ikonnikov, 28, also finished sixth at last year’s world championships in Daegu, South Korea.
The suspension comes a day after the International Olympic Committee stripped Russian shot putter Svetlana Krivelyova of her Olympic bronze medal from the 2004 Athens Games. Three other athletes were also stripped of their medals.
Krivelyova, 43, who has long retired from the sport, tested positive for anabolic steroids after her samples from eight years ago were re-tested.
Russia’s Olympic discus silver medalist Darya Pishchalnikova is being investigated by the IAAF for a possible breach of anti-doping regulations.
Pishchalnikova, who has denied any wrongdoing, could face a life ban from the sport if found guilty because it would be her second offense. She served a doping ban of two years nine months from July 2008 to April 2011.