Russia’s two best cross-country skiers from the Sochi Olympics, both provisionally suspended since December, were denied entry into the world championships that start this week.
Alexander Legkov and Maxim Vylegzhanin, who went one-two in the Sochi Olympic 50km freestyle, were among six Russian cross-country skiers provisionally suspended by the International Ski Federation in December after their names appeared in the McLaren report on Russian doping in Sochi.
Five of those skiers, including Legkov and Vylegzhanin, made “urgent requests” during their appeals processes to be allowed to compete at the world championships, which start Wednesday in Lahti, Finland.