Russia's Irina Davydova will be stripped of the gold medal she won in the 400m hurdles at the 2012 European Championships in Helsinki after being banned for doping ©Getty Images

Russia's Irina Davydova will be stripped of the gold and bronze medals she won in the 400 metres at the 2012 and 2014 European Championships after she was charged with doping by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), it has been reported.

Russia’s official state news agency TASS reported that the World Anti-Doping Agency had provided the AIU, the independent investigations until of World Athletics, with data retrieved in 2019 from the Moscow Laboratory's Information Management System (LIMS).

The raw data is the result of sample analysis and can indicate whether a substance or metabolite was detected, or manipulated. 

TASS reported that Davydova has been suspended for two years from January 17 this year by the AIU after it discovered deviations found in the athlete's blood samples obtained from June 20 in 2012 to June 30 in 2015.

As a result, all her results during that period have been annulled.

Medals from the 400m hurdles at the European Championships in Helsinki are set to be re-allocated after Irina Davydova's results were annulled because of doping ©Getty Images
Medals from the 400m hurdles at the European Championships in Helsinki are set to be re-allocated after Irina Davydova's results were annulled because of doping ©Getty Images

Davydova had won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the European Championships in Helsinki on June 29 as a 24-year-old when she ran a time of 53.77sec, which at that stage of the season was the fastest in the world.

Two years later, at the European Championships in Zurich, she won the bronze medal in the 400m hurdles behind Britain’s Eilidh Child and Ukraine’s Anna Titimets.

The gold medal won by Davydova in Helsinki is now set to be awarded to the runner-up, Denisa Rosolová from the Czech Republic.

The silver medal will be awarded to Ukraine's Hanna Yaroshchuk, who had originally crossed the line in third, with the bronze going to another Czech runner, Zuzana Hejnová.

Davydova will also lose the bronze she won in the 400m hurdles at the 2013 Universiade in Kazan when she finished third behind Titimets and Yaroshchuk.

Canada’s Sarah Wells will be upgraded.

Davydova is the 10th athlete to be stripped of a medal at the 2012 European Championships, the fourth to have won gold and the third Russian, retrospectively. 

Elena Arzhakova and Irina Maracheva were stripped of the gold and bronze medals they had won in the 800m after abnormalities were found in both their biological passports.

Irina Davydova, right, will also lose the bronze medal she won at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich ©Getty Images
Irina Davydova, right, will also lose the bronze medal she won at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich ©Getty Images

Davydova had also competed in the 400m hurdles at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, but failed to reach the final after finishing fifth in her semi-final. 

Another Russian, Kirill Sukharev, meanwhile is facing a life ban after being suspended by the AIU for a second time.

Sukharev’s best result was finishing third in the triple jump at the 2009 European Under-23 Championships in Tampere in Finland.

Both Davydova and Sukharev, who had already announced his retirement, can appeal.

Russian athletes have been banned from competing under their own flag since November 2015 due to allegations of state-sponsored doping.