Russian heptathlete Tatyana Chernova is to appeal a three-year eight month sanction issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has confirmed. The appeal is unusual in that Chernova’s sanction was also issued by the CAS, which in February 2016 was asked by the IAAF to act as a first-instance decision making body due to the suspension of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF). Chernova’s case is also unusual in that she has two related doping cases running against her at the CAS.

Chernova’s appeal came to light after her name appeared on a list of sanctions published by the IAAF yesterday. ‘We only announce sanctions when a case has definitively closed, but Chernova appealed against her sanction right at the end of her appeal window, hence her case is not closed and her sanction should not have appeared in the newsletter’, said an IAAF spokesperson via email. ‘We have now added an erratum to the newsletter to reflect this and republished the list without her’.

Chernova tested positive as a result of IAAF reanalysis of samples collected at the 2009 IAAF World Championships Berlin, 15-23 August, which returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (oral turinabol). In January 2015, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) sanctioned Chernova with a two-year ban from 22 July 2013, and annulled her results from 15 August 2009 until 14 August 2011. This would have allowed her to keep her gold meals won in Daegu and onwards.

On 24 April 2015, the IAAF filed an appeal against the RUSADA decision at the CAS (CAS 2015/A/4050). However such proceedings have been suspended at the request of the IAAF, as the outcome would be affected by another case (CAS 2016/O/4469) the IAAF commenced against her, based on analysis of blood values recorded via her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).

On 29 November, the CAS decided to ban Chernova from 5 February 2016, due to blood values recorded via her ABP from 2009 to 2014 (CAS decision below). This is the case that Chernova is appealing against, as it would annul all results from 15 August 2011 until 22 July 2013, meaning she stands to lose her 2011 IAAF World Championships Daegu, London 2012 Olympic and 2013 Kazan Universiade gold medals.