Kenyan runner Mark Kangogo has been served with a four-year ban from competition by the Athletics Integrity Unit, owing to the drug-test results of a sample taken at the 2022 Sierre-Zinal. By virtue of an early admission of the violation, he has been granted a one-year reduction in this ban.
A statement from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which was started in 2017 by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to combat doping, issued on Wednesday, October 12, reads:
“On the basis that the athlete has admitted the Anti-Doping Rule violations under Rule 2.1 ADR and Rule 2.2 ADR, in accordance with Rule 10.2.1 ADR and the application of Rule 10.8.1 ADR, the AIU confirms by this decision the following consequences for a first Anti-Doping Rule violation:
- a period of ineligibility of three years commencing on 9 September 2022 (the date of provisional suspension); and
- disqualification of the athlete’s results since and including 13 August 2022, with all resulting consequences, including the forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, points prizes, and appearance money.”
Mark Kangogo finishing the 2022 Sierre-Zinal. Photo: Marco Gulberti/Corsa in Montagna
The results of the Sierre-Zinal men’s race, of which Kangogo was the winner, have subsequently been overturned, with victory now going to Spain’s Andreu Blanes. Our 2022 Sierre-Zinal results article shows the updated race results.
Kangogo’s test showed the presence of two banned substances — Norandrosterone, an androgen and anabolic steroid; and Triamcinolone Acetonide, a synthetic corticosteroid — neither of which the athlete had secured a therapeutic exemption for.
This year’s Sierre-Zinal was Kangogo’s first time competing in the mountains, and he finished the highly competitive 31-kilometer Swiss race in a time of 2:27:31 — less than two minutes shy of Kilian Jornet’s 2019 course record of 2:25:35. He has already had a lengthy career in road running, and holds the course record for the ING Night Marathon Luxembourg, which he won in 2018 in a time of 2:12. This was his first doping conviction.
Learn more about doping in trail running and ultrarunning:
