Twenty-eight athletes have been suspended over historic doping offences, the International Association of Athletics Federations announced last night.

Allegations international athletics body the IAAF turned a blind eye to suspicious blood tests involving hundreds of athletes have been strenuously denied by the organisation.

Athletics Ireland CEO John Foley says the association is deeply concerned about the allegations of widespread doping in the sport, reported in yesterday’s Sunday Times.

The World Anti-Doping Agency said it is alarmed by “wild allegations” made by two European media outlets of widespread suspicious drug tests in track and field, and is asking an independent body to investigate.

Athletics is set to be engulfed in a fresh doping crisis following the “biggest leak of blood-test data in sporting history”, the Sunday Times reports.