Vadim Zelichenok, former coach of the USSR and Russian national track and field teams, has died.

Vadim Zelichenok, the former head coach of the USSR and Russian national athletics teams, died at the age of 71. This was announced on March 1 by the head of the Moscow Athletics Federation Oleg Kurbatov.

"Vadim Borisovich died last night in the hospital. His death is the result of a serious stroke that happened to him a few years ago. He was taken to the hospital with an attack, where a second one occurred, from which he died. It's a very big loss for our athletics," Kurbatov told TASS.

Zelichenok began his coaching career in the 1970s. From 1990 to 1991, he combined the work of the head coach of the USSR national teams and the position of vice-president of the USSR Athletics Federation. In 1992, the mentor led the United Team (consisting of athletes from the former Soviet republics) at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, after which he led the Russian national team until 1998.

From 1994 to 2000, Zelichenok served as General Secretary of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA). From October 2000 to February 2015, he worked as the first vice-president of the organization, and then until January 2016, he served as president of the VFLA.

In February 2026, the long-term president of the VFL, Valentin Balakhnichev, who headed the federation from 1991 to 2015, passed away. Thus, the Russian athletics lost two prominent officials in less than a month.

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