France's double Olympic champion Martin Fourcade has dubbed as a "masquerade" the response by Russia and the International Biathlon federation (IBU)to the McLaren report revelations on doping involving Russian biathletes. Russia has withdrawn from holding a biathlon World Cup event in Tyumen in March, while the IBU has suspended two of the 31 Russian biathletes detailed in the report and launched an investigation to shed further light on the 29 others listed.

"Cancelling the World Cup in Tyumen is a masquerade of the fight against doping," Fourcade said. Before the IBU and Russian decisions, Fourcade had raised the possibility of a boycott of World Cup races in the event of any clemency shown to Russia. The Frenchman warned Tuesday, however, that he would not become a martyr for the cause, saying a meeting with other biathletes was scheduled for the sidelines of the World Cup event in Oberhof, Germany, from Thursday. "We're due to meet with World Cup biathletes during the week to raise these points of disagreement," he said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017