IAAF president Sebastian Coe says Russians could be stopped from competing as neutral athletes if the country fails to shows "dramatic progress" in the fight against doping.

Russia has been suspended since 2015, when the World Anti-Doping Agency found evidence of widespread doping. The only Russians allowed to compete at IAAF events since then have been designated as neutral athletes.

Russia's Anzhelika Sidorova makes an attempt in the women's pole vault final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Britain, Saturday, March 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

 

Coe says "unless dramatic progress is made we, and we genuinely hope it is being made, then we will have to review at our council meeting in July the status of the neutral competitors and the potential for the congress to decide upon the ultimate sanction, I guess, which is expulsion."

Coe says the world needs to know Russian athletes are in a "system of confidence and trust."