Twenty-two Russians sanctioned by IOC file appeals at Court of Arbitration for Sport

Appeals have launched at CAS by 22 Russian athletes ©Getty Images

Twenty-two Russian appeals have been lodged at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following the International Olympic Committee (IOC) retrospectively disqualifying athletes from Sochi 2014 for doping, it has been confirmed.

In total, all but three of the 25 athletes so far sanctioned by IOC Disciplinary Commissions have lodged appeals.

Those received so far includes two-time Olympic champion Alexander Zubkov, Olympic skeleton champion Aleksandr Tretiakov and Olympic cross-country skiing gold medal winner, Alexander Legkov.

They will also be seeking to overturn an IOC decision to suspend them from all future editions of the Olympic Games.

"A CAS arbitration procedure has been opened for each athlete," confirmed a statement today.

"Directions with respect to the next steps in these matters will be issued to the parties in a few days.

"The athletes have requested that the CAS issue its final awards before the beginning of the Olympic Winter Games 2018."

The only three of the 25 yet to file appeals are those sanctioned most recently: biathlon silver medallist Olga Zaitseva and cross-country skiers Yulia Chekaleva and Anastasia Dotsenko.

Cross country skier Alexander Legkov is among those to have lodged an appeal with CAS ©Getty Images

The group are all accused of being part of a "systemic manipulation" of the doping programme in Sochi in which samples were illegally tampered with to mask doping.

They have been sanctioned following a combination of scientific evidence and testimony provided by ex-Moscow Laboratory director turned whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov.

They all deny any wrongdoing.

List of Russian athletes sanctioned by the Oswald Commission

Name of athlete	Sport	Event	Sochi 2014 result
Alexander Legkov	Cross-country skiing	Men’s 50km Men’s 4x10km	1^st 2nd
Evgeniy Belov	Cross-country skiing	Men’s 15km skiathlon Men’s 15km classic	18^th 25th
Maxim Vylegzhanin	Cross-country skiing	Men’s 50km Men’s team sprint Men’s 4x10km	2^nd 2^nd 2^nd
Alexey Petukhov	Cross-country skiing	Men's sprint	4^th in semi-final
Julia Ivanova	Cross-country skiing	Women’s 10km classic	17th
Evgenia Shapovalova	Cross-country skiing	Women’s sprint	6^th in quarter-final
Yulia Chekaleva	Cross-country skiing	Women's skiathlon Women's 10km Women's 4x5km relay Women's 30km freestyle	15th 11th 6th 32nd
Anastasia Dotsenko	Cross-country skiing	Women's sprint Women's team sprint	22nd 6th
Aleksandr Tretiakov	Skeleton	Men’s event	1st
Sergei Chudinov	Skeleton	Men’s event	5th
Elena Nikitina	Skeleton	Women’s event	3rd
Olga Potylitsyna	Skeleton	Women’s event	5^th
Mariia Orlova	Skeleton	Women’s event	6th
Alexander Zubkov	Bobsleigh	Two-man event Four-man event	1^st 1^st
Aleksei Negodailo	Bobsleigh	Four-man event	1^st
Dmitrii Trunenkov	Bobsleigh	Four-man event	1^st
Aleksandr Kas’yanov	Bobsleigh	Four-man event	4th
Aleksei Pushkarev	Bobsleigh	Four-man event	4th
Ilivir Khuzin	Bobsleigh	Four-man event	4th
Olga Stulneva	Bobsleigh	Two-woman	9th
Yana Romanova	Biathlon	Women’s 7.5km Women’s 10km pursuit Women’s 15km Women’s 4x6km relay	19^th 23^rd 53^rd 2nd
Olga Vilukhina	Biathlon	Women’s 7.5km Women’s 10km pursuit Women’s 12.5km mass start Women’s 4x6km relay Mixed relay	2^nd 7^th 21^st 2^nd 4th
Olga Zaitseva	Biathlon	Women's 7.5km Women's 10km pursuit Women's 15km Women's 12.5km mass start Mixed relay Women's 4x6km relay	28th 11th 15th 23rd 4th 2nd
Olga Fatkulina	Speed skating	Women’s 500m Women’s 1,000m Women’s 1,500m	2^nd 4^th 9th
Aleksandr Rumyantsev	Speed skating	Men’s team pursuit Men’s 5,000m	6^th 11th