Sport

Sochi stripped of bobsleigh and skeleton World Championships

International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation move after damning McLaren report

Professor Richard McLaren: his report implicated more than 1,000 Russian athletes in about 30 sports in an “institutional conspiracy” to use banned drugs at the Sochi and London Olympics. Photograph: Getty Images
Professor Richard McLaren: his report implicated more than 1,000 Russian athletes in about 30 sports in an “institutional conspiracy” to use banned drugs at the Sochi and London Olympics. Photograph: Getty Images
Tue Dec 13 2016 - 18:49

Sochi has been stripped of next year's bobsleigh and skeleton World Championships in the wake of the second McLaren report into state-sponsored doping in Russia.

The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation had come under increasing pressure to take the event away from the 2014 Winter Olympics host city after last week's damning report by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren, which implicated over 1,000 Russian athletes in a state-sponsored doping programme including many Winter Olympians.

The IBSF said in a statement that it was moving the competition to ensure it remained focused on "sport rather than accusations and discussions" and that the efforts of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation in putting on the event would be "nearly impossible to appreciate" in the "current climate".

It said a new host location would be determined in the coming days.