America’s storied Boston Marathon will exclude runners who currently live in Russia and Belarus.
The Boston Athletic Association (BAA) this week announced that it will not allow Russian and Belarusian runners to participate in this year’s Boston Marathon. The ban extends to runners who currently reside in either country and that the BAA had previously accepted to compete.
Organizers made the announcement less than 2 weeks before the race, which will take place on April 18, 2022.
The BAA’s ruling will not affect Russian or Belarusian runners who are already registered for events but aren’t current residents of the aforementioned countries. This measure allows those pre-registered and accepted athletes to compete, but not under their country’s flag.
The BAA took the ruling a step further and said they will not recognize Russian or Belarusian flags, nor the countries they represent, until further notice.
‘Support to the People of Ukraine’
![boston marathon A crowd of runners in the Boston Marathon](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2022/04/shutterstock_101119582-1.jpg)