Olympic sprinter Fred Kerley has been suspended from competition after missing three anti-doping tests within 12 months, but the American athlete says he plans to fight the charges.
The Athletics Integrity Unit announced Tuesday that the 30-year-old U.S. sprint star violated anti-doping rules that require athletes to be available for random drug testing.
Under the World Anti-Doping Code, athletes who miss three tests or fail to properly file their whereabouts information in a year can face serious penalties.
Kerley’s legal team released a statement saying he believes at least one of the alleged missed tests should be thrown out.
They argue he wasn’t negligent or that the testing officer didn’t make reasonable efforts to find him at his designated location.
“Kerley strongly believes that one or more of his alleged missed tests should be set aside either because he was not negligent or because the doping control officer did not do what was reasonable under the circumstances to locate him at his designated location,” his representatives said.
The sprinter won’t comment further while the case proceeds and looks forward to presenting his defense to a hearing panel.
Kerley won silver in the men’s 100m at the Tokyo Olympics and is a two-time world champion, taking gold in the 100m at the 2022 World Championships plus two golds in sprint relays.
