Five leading Russian race walkers, including a world record holder, have been banned for doping, the Russian athletics federation (RAF) said on Tuesday. Sergei Morozov, who holds the world record in the 20km walk, Vladimir Kanaikin, Viktor Burayev, Alexei Voevodin and Igor Yerokhin were banned for two years each after testing positive for EPO. “They all had failed a test for EPO and after a hearing by our federation's anti-doping board on Sept. 9, each of the five athletes was banned for two years,” RAF secretary general Vladimir Usachyov was quoted as saying by the All Sport news agency. “Both samples A and B of all five athletes came out positive and we had no other choice but to ban them for two years.” All five were forced to miss last month's Olympics. Kanaikin, 23, and Morozov, 20, had been favorites for the gold in the 20km in Beijing after setting world records over the distance in the past 12 months.
