Another Blow for Athletics Kenya

Kipyegon Bett sets the pace during the World Athletics Championships men's 800 metres semi-final at the London Stadium, London, Britain, August 6, 2017. /REUTERS

IAAF has suspended the 2016 World U20 Championships 800m winner Kipyegon Bett on claims of doping.

The Athletics Integrity Unity in a tweet on Thursday said the decision was reached after the 20-year-old allegedly failed to submit to sample collection as spelled out in Article 2.3 of the anti-doping rules.

” The Kenyan middle-distance runner is provisionally suspended from all competition,” the agency said.

Bett won the 800 metres bronze medal at last year’s World Championships in London.

The agency, however, says in its website that such suspension does not in any way abrogate the presumption of innocence and is not an early determination of the athletes’ guilt.

Earlier this month, AIU charged Lucy Kabuu Wangui with a violation of the doping rules after she failed a drug test.

Image result for Bett Kipyegon

She tested positive for narcotic morphine, during the Milano Marathon in April.

Samuel Kalalei, who won the Athens marathon last November, was the third Kenyan athlete to have been found in breach of anti-doping rules.

Kipyegon’s case comes two months after three times World 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop and African Games 400m silver medallist Boniface Mweresa tested positive for banned substances.

Three-time Boston Marathon winner Rita Jeptoo and Jemima Sumgong, the 2016 Olympic marathon champion, were involved in doping cases too.

Samuel Kalalei, who won the Athens marathon last November, is the third Kenyan athlete from to have been found in breach of anti-doping rules within 10 days, officials said on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for testing positive for blood-booster EPO on June 4, the body said on its website here

Kalalei’s failed test is the latest to tarnish the nation’s reputation as the dominant force in global middle and long-distance running, as it has been dogged in recent years by doping cases among elite athletes.

Sprinter Boniface Mweresa was last month dropped from the Kenyan team that topped the medal table at the African Senior Championships in Asaba, Nigeria, after he failed doping test.

Kenyan Samuel Kalalei wins marathon in Athens, Greece, November 12, 2017. /REUTERS

Mweresa protested that he had taken declared supplements, but Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) said the substance found in his sample was prohibited.

The continental athletics showpiece ended on Sunday with Kenya winning 11 golds, six silvers and two bronze.

Former Commonwealth Games 10,000 metres champion and marathon runner Lucy Kabuu was on August 4 suspended by the AIU for failing a dope test.

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