RusAF Acting President Irina Privalova has served as head coach on an interim since September last year for the National Federation, which has been suspended by World Athletics since November 2015 in relation to doping cover-ups.

Russian state news agency TASS reported that Zhelanov received four votes from the Presidium to take over, while Svetlana Abramova received one.

Four-time Olympic medallist Privalova, who won the women's 400 metres hurdles at Sydney 2000, revealed that Zhelanov's appointment requires approval from the Russian Ministry of Sports.

"I will continue to act as the head coach of the national team until Zhelanov’s candidacy is approved by the expert council of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation," Privalova told TASS.

"When this approval happens, the question is not for me."

Zhelanov is currently Russia's combined events head coach.

He won bronze in the men's decathlon at his home Olympics in Moscow in 1980, representing the Soviet Union.

Athens 2004 men's 800m gold medallist Yuri Borzakovsky had headed up RusAF's coaching team since February 2015 before he became its sports director last year.

Privalova took over as Acting President in February last year, after Peter Ivanov was forced to leave the role after less than three months because of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sanctions.

Ivanov was appointed deputy head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in Russia in January 2021, but under the terms of a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling Russian Government officials are prohibited from serving on sports bodies until December 2022.

Since its initial ban, RusAF has had its suspension extended more than 15 times.

However, a recommendation from Russian Taskforce chair Rune Andersen to continue working towards reinstatement was accepted by the World Athletics Council, despite the imposition of a ban on Russian and Belarus athletes from international competition "for the foreseeable future" due to the war in Ukraine.

Prior to invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russian athletes had been able to compete under the Authorised Neutral Athlete banner.

In April, World Athletics confirmed that RusAF is fully up to date with all of its overdue payments for costs related to work on its reinstatement, and that an independent audit has been scheduled for September or October to establish the cultural change that has taken place in Russian athletics with regards to anti-doping practices.