Head of scandal-hit Russian federation re-elected

MOSCOW - Russia's scandal-ridden athletics federation on Friday re-elected Dmitry Shlyakhtin president after Yelena Isinbayeva pulled out, as fresh revelations on state-run doping rocked sport in the country.

President of the Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) Dmitry Shlyakhtin addresses the media after being re-elected for a new term in Moscow on December 9, 2016

Russia remains suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after it was kicked out in November 2015 over drug cheat allegations in a move that saw its athletes banned from international competition and miss the Rio Olympic Games.

Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Isinbayeva withdrew from the running after this week being appointed head of the supervisory board of RUSADA, Russia's national anti-doping agency, which was suspended in the wake of the scandal.

Shlyakhtin also saw off competition from ARAF general secretary Mikhail Butov and high jumper Andrei Silnov.

Shlyakhtin, who was first drafted in at the start of the year as a crisis manager, now faces the mammoth task of trying to convince the IAAF that Moscow has done enough to fix its rotten system.

"We agree that there are problems in Russian athletics and we don't hide this," Shlyakhtin said after the vote.

"We are working to eliminate these problems as best we can. The things that were done since our suspension demonstrate our capacity for reform."

But the job of returning Russia to the fold likely became even tougher after the second part of a report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) detailed more jaw-dropping revelations on the scale of Russia's state-run doping programme.

The report from lawyer Richard McLaren said that more than 1,000 Russian athletes in about 30 sports took part in an "institutional conspiracy" to use banned drugs at the Sochi and London Olympics and other global events.

Russian officials have consistently denied any state-run doping programme and claim they are doing all they can to reform and fight doping by clamping down on cheating and educating athletes and coaches.

The Russian sports ministry said in a statement that there were "no government programmes to support doping in sport" and vowed to keep fighting doping.

An IAAF taskforce will travel to Russia in January to assess the country's response to McLaren's latest revelations before it reports to the IAAF Council in February.

The IAAF has welcomed Russia's progress but said athletics authorities need to ensure doping checks are free from "outside interference".