World Athletics President Seb Coe has confirmed Russian athletes will be able to travel to the Eugene 2022 World Athletics Championships ©Getty Images

World Athletics will ensure Russian athletes can travel to the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon in the United States next year, President Sebastian Coe claimed.

Last year, Russian athletes could not compete at certain meets in the US due to being unable to secure visas to enter the country. 

High jump Olympic champion Mariya Lasitskene and women's two-time pole vault world champion Anzhelika Sidorov were unable to compete at the Eugene Diamond League leg last year as the US refused to provide travel visas.

Lasitskene had expressed concern she would be unable to compete at the 2022 World Championships due to the same problem.

She called on the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF), the Sports Ministry and the Foreign Ministry to support her attempts to compete and ensure she could travel to the US, and Coe has now confirmed Russian athletes will be able to compete in Eugene.

"Athletes will be given the right to enter, they will be able to obtain visas," said Coe, as reported by Russian state news agency TASS

"This also applies to all other teams, we will be persistent in this matter. 

High jump Olympic champion Mariya Lasitskene has expressed concern at being able to compete at the World Championships in Eugene next year ©Getty Images
High jump Olympic champion Mariya Lasitskene has expressed concern at being able to compete at the World Championships in Eugene next year ©Getty Images

"The Local Organising Committee has provided us with guarantees that this process will be carried out in accordance with the established protocol."

Due to a World Anti-Doping Agency ruling, Russian athletes will compete as Authorised Neutral Athletes (ANAs) at international competitions.

In December, it was confirmed the number of eligible ANAs from RusAF at major events, including the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March and the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in July, would be doubled to 20.

Coe says there is much work to be done to determine which athletes can compete at the Championships.

"We have yet to decide which of the Russian track and field athletes will be able to perform in Oregon," the World Athletics President added.

"There is a lot of work to be done on this issue."