Small race winners DQ'd for using agent tied to doping

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Marathon organizers in Virginia have stripped winners of last weekend's races of their titles after discovering they were managed by a Russian sports agent whose past doping concerns were chronicled in an Associated Press report.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported three runners - the men's marathon winner and first- and third-place finishers of the half-marathon in Richmond - were represented by Larisa Mikhaylova, who race organizers said used an alias to register the runners.

The penalties come after a 2016 AP report that Mikhaylova makes a living by entering many runners in smaller races that don't require drug tests. She told the AP she was blameless, and that her athletes are clean.

But some runners represented by Mikhaylova have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, prompting a number of U.S. races to exclude her from bringing runners to their events.