Top Spanish runner Mohamed Katir has been banned for two years for missing three doping tests within twelve months.
As the Independent Integrity Commission (AIU) of the World Athletics Association announced on Friday (February 16, 2024), Katir had admitted the violations. He was provisionally suspended just a few days ago.
The 25-year-old, who was born in Morocco, is not allowed to compete until February 6, 2026 and will therefore miss both the Olympic Games this summer in Paris and the next World Cup in September 2025 in Tokyo.
The Olympic eighth over 5,000 meters in Tokyo 2021 won silver over this distance at the World Championships in Budapest last year. A year earlier, Katir won bronze over 1,500 meters at the World Championships in Eugene in the USA and silver at the European Championships over 5,000 meters in Munich.
AIU says Katir admitted violations
When the AIU provisionally suspended Katir at the beginning of February, the runner had announced, according to Spanish media, that he wanted to take action against the decision. “I am of the opinion that there was no misconduct in the three location violations, as in some of the incidents in question I was certainly available at the location I specified at the appropriate time.”, he said. Katir, 25, said she was checked around 25 times during the period in question.
The AIU has now announced that the runner has admitted the violations. He was not available for tests as required on February 28th, April 3rd and October 10th last year.