Valentin Maslakov, Russia’s top athletics coach, resigns amid doping scandals

MOSCOW – Russia’s top athletics coach has resigned amid a series of doping scandals in the country.

Valentin Maslakov, 70, had overseen the training of all Russian national team athletes since 2007 as part of a coaching career spanning more than 40 years.

The head of the Russian athletics federation, Valentin Balakhnichev, tells the R-Sport agency on Friday that Maslakov took a “dignified decision” to step down after consulting federation management.

Balakhnichev did not explicitly link Maslakov’s resignation to the doping scandals but said his decision showed that “in a public organization, everyone shares responsibility.”

Maslakov’s departure comes as the Russian federation faces a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation into claims of systematic drug use and three days after five Russian race-walkers, including three Olympic champions, received doping bans.