Russian runner Kotlyarova tests positive for meldonium

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:03 p.m. ET

foxsports

MOSCOW (AP) Russian 400-meter runner Nadezhda Kotlyarova says she has tested positive for the banned substance meldonium.

Kotlyarova tells Russia's Tass agency that she failed a drug test at last month's Russian indoor championships and is protesting her innocence.

She says the spate of positive tests for the endurance-boosting meldonium, which was added to the banned list from Jan. 1, is ''injustice,'' adding that she intends ''to see this situation out to the end.''

The 26-year-old Kotlyarova raced at last year's world championships in Beijing, reaching the semifinals, and was also part of the Russian relay team which won silver in the 4x400m at the 2013 European indoor championships.

She was not racing in this week's world indoor championships in Portland because Russia was suspended from global track and field in November over doping.