On Friday, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) handed a two-year whereabouts suspension to former 100m world champion and Olympic medallist Fred Kerley.
In keeping with the AIU’s investigation, the American sprinter missed three doping checks between Could 11 and Dec. 6, 2024. Underneath anti-doping guidelines, three whereabouts failures inside a 12-month interval represent a violation. For 2 of the three missed checks, the AIU discovered the 30-year-old American sprinter’s conduct to be “negligent and reckless” in failing to stick to anti-doping rules.
A Disciplinary Tribunal has banned Fred Kerley (USA) for two years, from 12 August 2025, for Whereabouts Failures. DQ outcomes since 6 December 2024. Particulars right here:https://t.co/gukX5kDnD6https://t.co/7wb4oY4ATZ pic.twitter.com/dM7pLEddfP
— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) March 6, 2026
Kerley responded to the ban on X, posting an AI-generated picture of himself preventing fictional officers from three anti-doping companies: United States Anti-Doping Company (USADA), the AIU and the World Anti-Doping Company (WADA).
The primary missed check occurred on Could 11, 2024, three days earlier than Kerley posted on X that there could be a world document the subsequent time he ran the 100m. The AIU stated a doping management officer (DCO) arrived at Kerley’s Miami dwelling in the course of the 60-minute time slot he had designated for testing. Upon arrival, Kerley was not current and had didn’t replace his whereabouts from the Miami tackle to the residence the place he was staying in Jamaica. In keeping with the report, he solely realized the error when the DCO arrived on the listed tackle.
I’m uninterested in holding all the pieces in.
You possibly can’t management me, and the reality is louder than silence. pic.twitter.com/0rV9gvT041— Fred Kerley (@fkerley99) March 6, 2026
The second missed check occurred on June 13, 2024. Kerley had up to date his whereabouts to a lodge in Munich, the place he was staying on the time. When the DCO arrived throughout his designated 60-minute time slot, Kerley was not on the lodge. The officer tried to contact Kerley by telephone, however the name went to voicemail. In a case like this, AIU tips state the accountability is on the athlete for failing to reply the decision in the course of the specified testing window.
The third missed check got here on Dec. 6, when Kerley had listed a non-public residence advanced in West Hollywood, Calif., as his location. When the DCO arrived in the course of the designated time slot, nobody answered the door. The officer reportedly made three telephone calls to Kerley over 10 minutes and rang the doorbell a number of instances, however obtained no response.
Kerley later stated he didn’t reply the door as a result of the residence was not his residence, and he didn’t acknowledge the caller. “I lived in L.A., you progress smarter than that,” Kerley wrote on X. “It was a random quantity from Mexico that appeared like a rip-off name, and I’m purported to reply that?”
Kerley gained the 100m title on the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore., working 9.76 seconds. He’s additionally a two-time particular person Olympic medallist, profitable silver within the 100m at Tokyo 2020, and bronze in the identical occasion at Paris 2024.
The 30-year-old’s interval of ineligibility will run till Aug. 11, 2027, and all outcomes recorded from Dec. 6, 2024, onward can be disqualified. He has additionally been ordered to pay US$4,000 to World Athletics in authorized charges and different bills associated to the whereabouts investigation.
He has the choice to enchantment the two-year suspension to the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport. Kerley can be one in every of a number of beforehand introduced athletes scheduled to compete within the Enhanced Video games this Could.
