MONACO: Former 1,500-meter world champion Elijah Manangoi was provisionally suspended Thursday for missing doping tests. The Athletics Integrity Unit said that the Kenyan runner has been charged with "whereabouts failures".
No timetable for his disciplinary case was given. Manangoi, who won the world title in 2017, is the latest gold medalist under investigation for being unavailable to give a sample or not updating details of where they can be contacted each day by sample collection officials.
Christian Coleman, the American sprinter who won the 100-meter title last year, and Salwa Eid Naser, the Nigeria-born 400 gold medalist running for Bahrain, have both been provisionally suspended while under investigation by the AIU.
Athletes who are unavailable three times within 12 months face a two-year ban. Manangoi won the 1,500 title at the 2017 worlds in London and took silver in Beijing two years earlier. He is the reigning Commonwealth Games and African champion, and a multiple winner on the Diamond League track circuit.
Kazakh hurdler Natalya Ivoninskaya and three other Kenyan runners were also sanctioned. Ivoninskaya was banned for two years after a sample from the 2012 London Olympics tested positive for the steroid stanozolol.
Mercy Kibarus was banned for eight years after testing positive for the steroid norandrosterone, Kenneth Kipkemoi was banned for two years after testing positive for the drug terbutaline, and Patrick Siele was suspended for "evading, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection".