Russia's track and field team triumphed at the European Championships in Turin, winning 18 medals, 10 gold, but the return home was marred by a scandal at Milan airport. Three delegation members were denied the Aeroflot flight and remain there while the federation tries to resolve ticket issues.

Yesterday, the Russian national team was supposed to return triumphantly from the European Championships. However, the return was not a joyful one: an Aeroflot employee refused to let members of our delegation board, without bothering to explain the reasons. The winner of the continental championship in the triple jump, Anastasia Taranova-Potapova, remained in Milan to celebrate the biggest success of her career. She was joined by coach Vladimir Tipaev and Anastasia Solovyova, who finished fifth in the 60-meter hurdles.
The Russian national team became the winner of the European Athletics Championships, held in the Italian city of Turin, significantly outperforming its rivals in the number of medals won. Russian track and field athletes collected 18 medals at the continental championship, including 10 gold, 4 silver, and 4 bronze medals.
Thus, the Russian team significantly exceeded the medal target announced on the eve of departure for the tournament. According to the national team’s head coach Valentin Maslakov, it was expected to win "12-13 medals, including 5-6 gold ones." At the same time, the Russian team competed at the continental championship with an experimental youth squad, since most of the team’s leaders decided to skip the winter post-Olympic season.
Our team was heading home in excellent spirits. The team arrived at the airport "somewhat later" because of the large amount of luggage.
"The delay was due to the fact that we were waiting for a vehicle to load the poles onto, so we were a little late. But still, we arrived about one or two hours before boarding began - not check-in, but boarding," said Alla Glushchenko, press attache of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA).
She noted that since there were about 100 people in the Russian delegation from the VFLA, check-in took a long time.
"And in principle the whole team was late for boarding. But for some reason only the last three guys, who were the last to arrive, were not allowed on," Glushchenko said.
At the same time, she said that airline representatives promised to send the athletes on another flight that same day. However, according to her, the track and field athletes were never put on a plane, and they are still at Milan airport.
"When we arrived, we called them, found out that they had not been put on the plane, and told them to buy tickets with their own money, and they were told to leave on the next flight tomorrow," Glushchenko said.
The press attache stressed that the VFLA is handling this matter and is trying to arrange electronic tickets for the athletes.
Aeroflot has so far not commented on the situation.