Former 100m world champion Kerley banned for two years

Former world 100m champion Fred Kerley has been banned for two years for anti-doping whereabouts failures.

A tribunal found Kerley was "negligent and, to a certain extent, reckless" in not adhering to anti-doping regulations, after the American recorded three whereabouts failures between 11 May and 6 December 2024.

Kerley was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) in August last year and missed September's World Championships in Tokyo.

The 30-year-old's period of ineligibility will run until 11 August 2027 and his competitive results between 6 December 2024 and 12 August 2025 have been disqualified, including prize money, prizes and titles.

Kerley has also been ordered to pay World Athletics £3,000 in legal fees and other expenses.

The World Anti-Doping Code states an athlete cannot miss three anti-doping tests and/or filing failures within a 12-month period.

The AIU said a Disciplinary and Appeals Tribunal did not consider a fourth alleged whereabouts failure by Kerley on 7 December, having already determined he committed a violation based on the first three.

Kerley won 100m gold at the 2022 World Championships, along with the men's 4x100m titles in 2019 and 2023.

He also made the 100m podium at the past two Olympic Games, winning silver at Tokyo 2020 and bronze at Paris 2024.

"Given this level of experience and having been a member of the Testing Pool since 2017, the Tribunal said Kerley should have exercised more care," an AIU statement stated.

Head of the AIU Brett Clothier said: "Unfortunately, sophisticated doping substances may only be detectable within an athlete's sample for a few days or even hours after administration.

"Anti-doping organisations need to be able to test athletes without notice on the day and hour of our choosing, otherwise anti-doping programmes will not work, and dopers will easily avoid detection. Whereabouts rules are therefore fundamental to the integrity of sport and must be respected.

"The AIU will continue to strictly enforce whereabouts requirements to protect the right of all athletes to clean competition."

Kerley, who last competed at the Grand Sprint Series in Norwalk, California in July 2025 became the first track athlete and American male to sign up to the controversial Enhanced Games in September.

He did not dispute his whereabouts failure on 13 June - but blamed technical issues with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) app for a missed test on 11 May, and the Doping Control Officer (DCO) for missed tests on 6 and 7 December.

This decision may be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).