Vera Aleksandrovna Sokolova (; born June 8, 1987, in Solianoy, Morgaushsky District, Chuvash Republic) is a Russian race walker.
A gold medalist on the track at World Youth and European Junior level, she won her first major senior medal at the 2010 European Athletics Championships, taking the 20 km road walk bronze medal. She also represented Russia at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.
She won the 2011 Russian Winter Walking Championships in Sochi with a world record in the 20 km road walk of 1:25:08, knocking 33 seconds off the former record set by Olimpiada Ivanova in the 2005 World Championships final.Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov (26 February 2011). Sokolova heads off Kirdyapkina to clock 1:25:08 World record - UPDATED. IAAF. Retrieved 13 October 2019. She continues to be coached by Viktor Chegin, after he has been suspended for a lengthy series of performance-enhancing drug suspensions against many of his athletes.
Doping case In September 2015 IAAF confirmed that Sokolova was provisionally suspended after a sample from an out-of-competition control in Saransk in June had been found positive for a prohibited substance.James Ellingworth: 6 Russian race walkers suspended over positive drug tests , Associated Press, bigstory.ap.org, 22 September 2015.
Achievements Representing 2002World Junior ChampionshipsKingston, Jamaica9th 10,000 m track walk47:59.14 2003European Race Walking Cup (U20)Cheboksary, Russia2nd10 km47:021stTeam - 10 km Junior3 ptsWorld Youth ChampionshipsSherbrooke, Canada1st5000 m track walk22:50.23 2004World Race Walking Cup (U20)Naumburg, Germany1st10 km45:29World Junior ChampionshipsGrosseto, Italy3rd10,000 m track walk46:53.022005European Race Walking Cup (U20)Miskolc, Hungary1st10 km44:091stTeam - 10 km Junior3 ptsEuropean Junior ChampionshipsKaunas, Lithuania1st10,000 m track walk43:11.34 2006World Race Walking Cup (U20)A Coruña, Spain1st10 km44:49World Junior ChampionshipsBeijing, China4th10,000 m track walk46:58.21 2009European Race Walking CupMetz, France10th20 km1:36:431stTeam - 20 km14 ptsWorld ChampionshipsBerlin, Germany14th20 km walk1:34:552010World Race Walking CupChihuahua, Mexico4th20 km1:33:54European ChampionshipsBarcelona, Spain3rd20 km walk1:29:322011European Race Walking CupOlhão, Portugal1st20 km1:30:021stTeam - 20 km14 ptsWorld ChampionshipsDaegu, South Korea11th20 km1:32:132013European Race Walking CupDudince, Slovakia2nd20 km1:29:181stTeam - 20 km6 ptsUniversiadeKazan, Russia —20 kmDQ1stTeam - 20 km walk4:32:34World ChampionshipsMoscow, Russia —20 kmDQ2014World Race Walking CupTaicang, China4th20 km1:27:03European ChampionshipsZürich, Switzerland4th20 km1:28:242015European Race Walking CupMurcia, Spain6th20 km1:27:081stTeam - 20 km9 pts
See also List of doping cases in athletics
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