Another Russian walker caught doping, banned for 4 years
MOSCOW (AP) Russian race walker Tatyana Akulinushkina has received a four-year ban for doping, in another blow to Russia's scandal-hit athletics team.
Akulinushkina tested positive for the banned diuretic furosemide, which can be used to mask other doping products, during a national team training camp in Sochi on Feb. 20, the Russian athletics federation said.
It is the second career doping offense for the 21-year-old, who will be banned until March 1, 2019. Akulinushkina's positive test came 13 months after she finished a six-month ban for using the banned substance fenoterol.
In recent years, 26 Russian walkers have been banned for doping. At least 20 of those, including Akulinushkina, trained under national coach Viktor Chegin, who is under investigation by the IAAF for the offenses.