Sochi loses right to host bobsleigh and skeleton World Championships

Canada-3 four-man bobsleigh, pilot Justin Kripps, pushman Jesse Lumsden, pushman Cody Sorensen and brakeman Ben Coakwell crash in the Bobsleigh Four-man Heat 2 at the Sanki Sliding Center during the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 22, 2014
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The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation confirms that the Russian city of Sochi will no longer host the 2017 bobsleigh and skeleton World Championships.

The Russian city of Sochi has lost the right to host the 2017 bobsleigh and skeleton World Championships.

The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation claimed that it would not be "prudent" to hold the championships in Russia, a country accused of state-sponsored doping.

The IBSF decision comes after Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren last week released the second part of a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report.

McLaren's dossier made further claims that Russia operated a state-sponsored doping programme for its athletes between 2011 and 2015, including over the period of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

According to Russia's RIA news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the decision to strip Sochi of the championships was "politicised and without grounds".

It is understood that a number of German venues have offered to host the event, along with the Swiss town of St Moritz.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with upcoming Olympic games' volunteers in Sochi on January 17, 2014
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