Whisteblower Stepanova last in comeback at Boston indoor meet
Russian doping whistleblower Yulia Stepanova, competing as a neutral athlete representing no nation, finished last Saturday in the women's 800 meters at the Boston Indoor Grand Prix.
Stepanova, who helped unveil a state-backed doping program in her homeland, returned to major international competition at the event, which launched the five-city IAAF World Indoor Tour.
After being hit with a two-year doping ban in 2013, Stepanova helped gather evidence of systemic dope cheating in Russia. She turned whistleblower for the World Anti-Doping Agency and has been living in the United States with husband Vitaly Stepanov in a hidden location.
Stepanova, 30, was seventh in 2mins, 5.14secs, more than three seconds off the winning pace of American Charlene Lipsey, who crossed the line in 2:02.01.
Ethiopia's Habitam Alemu, an Olympian who was sixth at last year's World Indoor Championships, was second in 2:02.38 with Britain's Lynsey Sharp, the 2012 European champion who placed sixth at last year's Rio Olympics, taking third, another half-second adrift.
Reigning world champion Marina Arzamasova of Belarus was fifth in 2:04.85.