The IAAF, which has banned Russia since 2015, announced on Friday that it had cleared five more athletes from the country to compete under a neutral flag in 2018. None of the five has achieved any notable international success. The panel that grants clean competitors neutral status has been operating since the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
With the five additions, the list for 2018 contains 72 names but 68 more have been turned down this year, and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) says it has received more than 200 requests since December.