World championship medallist Mohamed Katir given a two-year ban

Two-time world championship medallist and one of the top distance runners in the world, Mohamed Katir, has been given a two-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for whereabouts violations. On Friday, Katir admitted to the Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) and will serve a two-year suspension, missing the 2024 World Indoor Championship, Paris Olympic Games, and the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

The AIU has banned Mohamed Katir (Spain) for 2 years, from 7 February 2024, for Whereabouts Failures. DQ results from 10 October 2023.

Details here: https://t.co/irDWfuYaZB
Details here: https://t.co/vsY8vXiPSB pic.twitter.com/p5rd6zoqVc

— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) February 16, 2024

According to the AIU, the world 5,000m silver medallist missed three tests between Feb. 28, 2023, and Oct. 10, 2023 (missing three doping tests in a 12-month window results in an ADRV). Katir will be banned from competition until Feb. 7, 2026.

On Feb. 28, a Doping Control Officer (DCO) went to the address in Murcia, Spain indicated in the Athlete’s Whereabouts information; upon arrival, the DCO was told that Katir was in Lisbon, Portugal, and would not be returning until March 2. 

Katir missed another test on April 3, when a DCO showed up at his home in Murcia again. When they arrived, Katir was training in France, and had failed to update his whereabouts. Katir told the AIU he tried to update his information, but the system was not working. He was charged with his second violation when he failed to send an email providing evidence of technical issues.

His third violation occurred on Oct. 10, when a DCO went to the specified location during a 60-minute time slot between 7:20 p.m. and 8:20 p.m. When the DCO arrived, Katir was away at training, and later insisted there was a mistake in his whereabouts, and claimed he never changed the time slot from his usual 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. window.

Heading into the Olympic year, Katir was one of the favourites to contend for a medal in the 1,500m and 5,000m at the 2024 Paris Olympics. When the news came out on his whereabouts suspension on Feb. 7, Katir and his agent said they were going to submit an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). On Feb. 13, Katir signed an admission of fault form and accepted the two-year sanction. All results from Oct. 10, 2023 on will be disqualified.

The 25-year-old is a two-time world championship medallist, winning silver in the men’s 5,000m in Budapest 2023 and bronze in the men’s 1,500m at Eugene in 2022. On both occasions, Katir was beaten by Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Katir is also the European record holder over 5,000m, running 12:45.01 at the Monaco Diamond League–the 11th fastest time in history.

Katir last raced on Jan. 28, running 3:51.91 for the mile at the Meeting de l’Eure in France–the second fastest time in the world this year.