- Sprinter Christian Coleman’s two-year provisional ban for whereabouts failures has been upheld by the Athletic Integrity Unit. The ruling means that the 100-meter world champ will not be able to compete at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
- Running Shoes & Gear.
- There is an opportunity to appeal.
Noah Lyles Rolls to 200-Meter Win at the Trials banned from competition by World Athletics for two years, until May 13, 2022, for missed drug tests. That means he will likely not be allowed to race at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The 100-meter world champ can appeal, but as it stands, he wont be racing at the 2021 Olympics provisional ban in June, for missing three drug tests in a 12-month period in 2019, by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU)—an organization independent of World Athletics, which oversees drug testing, compliance, and investigations in track and field. The punishment for “whereabouts failures” is a one- to two-year ban, depending on the number of previous transgressions. A disciplinary tribute panel upheld that ban.
Stay up to date with the latest pro running news with Runner’s World+
The World Anti-Doping Agency requires top-level athletes who are in the registered testing pool to report their location and be available for testing during a 60-minute time period every day. Three whereabouts failures in a 12-month period is considered an anti-doping rule violation. Coleman missed tests on January 16, 2019, and December 9, 2019, and he had a filing failure on April 26, 2019.
According to the ruling, Coleman argued that he was home during the 7:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. window of time because he remembers watching the start of Tom Brady of Michigan Races the Olympic Trials, and that he must have just missed the control officer and blood-collection assistant. His receipts from Chipotle, at 7:53 p.m., and Walmart, at 8:22 p.m., were presented as evidence, but AIU didn’t accept his reasoning. (You can see the entire decision here.)
Despite the ruling, there is no indication that Coleman had ever taken a banned substance.
Noah Lyles Rolls to 200-Meter Win at the Trials.
Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
