Margarita Plavunova: Russian champion hurdler found dead
The 25-year-old was a national champion and was in training with the Tokyo Olympics in mind when she died during a run in Tambov.
Olympic hopeful Margarita Plavunova was found dead by the side of a road in the Morshansky disctrict of Tambov on Thursday, according to Russian news agency TASS.
Plavunova’s death was later confirmed by the Russian Athletics Federation and the cause was given as a cardiac arrest during a training run. Her coach, Elena Menilkova, said that the 25-year-old had been feeling unwell for a few days.
Olympic goal
Plavunova was a national champion and competed in the 60m and 100m hurdles. She last competed on 22 June at a regional tournament in Zhukovskiy and had a personal best in the 100m hurdles of 14.06s, recorded a year earlier.
She had been hoping to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and her heavy training regime may have contributed to her cardiac failure.