The Royal Spanish athletics federation (RFEA) has confirmed that Spanish race walker Julia Takacs has become the new 2011 European U23 20km race walk champion, after the retrospective disqualification of two Russians for doping. In a 9 September statement, the RFEA said that it had received notification from European Athletics that the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had retroactively banned Nina Okhotnikova for violating IAAF rule 32.2b, which relates to the use of a prohibited substance or method.

As reported by the Sports Integrity Initiative in March this year, the Russian athletics federation (VFLA) banned Okhotnikova from 22 January 2015 until 21 January 2017. Her results from 21 June 2011 until 17 November 2011 have been cancelled, meaning that she will also lose the bronze medal she won in the 20km walk at the 2011 Summer Universiade. Czech athlete Lucie Pelantová, who finished fourth, will gain her medal.

The RFEA said that Takacs (pictured, far right) had initially finished third in the 2011 U23 20km race walk. The race winner, Tatyana Mineyeva, was banned for two years by the VFLA from 17 November 2012, but has now returned to competition. This means that Antonella Palmisano of Italy will now take the silver for the 2011 U23 20km race walk, and Eleonora Giorgi, also of Italy, will take the bronze.

Both Okhotnikova and Mineyeva were coached by Viktor Chegin, who formerly coached the Russian national team’s race walkers. As reported by the Sports Integrity Initiative, Chegin was banned by the VFLA for the second time in July. The VFLA initially suspended Chegin from working with its race-walkers ahead of the 2014 European Athletics Championships, however he was spotted in Zurich during the Championships, and has worked with Russian athletes since then.

Part of the difficulty in banning Chegin is due to the fact that he gives his name to a race-walking centre in Moravia, where he is still listed as Head Coach. However, the VFLA kept its promise not to send any race walkers to the 2015 Beijing IAAF World Championships until the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) completes its investigation into him, also announced during July. Eight Russian race walkers coached by Chegin at some stage in their career have been banned for anti-doping rule violations in 2015 alone.