Kenyan Lawrence Cherono and American Randolph Ross were suspended on Saturday after testing positive for the former and for evading a check on the latter.
The Kenyan Lawrence Cherono and the American Randolph Ross have been suspended for doping offenses and will not be able to participate in the World Athletics Championships taking place in Eugene (Oregon) until July 24, the Unit announced on Saturday. Athletics Integrity (AIU). Both athletes were scheduled to compete on Sunday, Cherono in the marathon and Ross in the 400m heats.
In a press release, the IAU specifies that Cherono tested positive for trimetazidine, a drug mainly used to prevent angina pectoris, during a sample taken out of competition on May 23. Ross, for his part, is suspended for “falsification of anti-doping procedure“. He evaded a control on June 18. Cherono, 33, won the Boston and Chicago marathons in 2019, and placed 4th in the Tokyo Olympics event last year.
Cherono will not be replaced
The IAU said it was informed of the positivity of the Kenyan long-distance runner’s sample by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) laboratory in Lausanne on July 13, the day Cherono left for Eugene. The athlete was informed of the results when he arrived in the United States on Thursday and he appealed on Friday, but to no avail.
The independent Athletics Integrity Unit (UIA), based in Monaco and created in 2017 by the World Athletics, the international federation, regretted that the results were not communicated to them until 47 days after the test, whereas that according to WADA rules, laboratories have 20 days to provide the results. This delay thus deprives another Kenyan athlete of taking Lawrence Cherono’s place in the marathon. Randoph Ross, 21, was part of the US team in the gold medal-winning 4x400m relay in Tokyo. But he only made the playoffs, not the final.