Sprinter Fred Kerley received a two-year ban Friday for missing drug tests — a suspension that shouldn’t impact the 30-year-old former world champion because he has signed to run in a league that does not prohibit performance enhancers.
The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees doping cases for World Athletics, announced the suspension, quoting from a ruling that called the 100-meter champion in 2022 “’negligent and, to a certain extent, reckless’” in not adhering to anti-doping regulations.”
The decision said Kerley’s missed tests occurred from May through December of 2024. Last September, he became the biggest name in sprinting to announce he would run in the Enhanced Games, a start-up league that will not penalize athletes for using banned substances.
Shortly after the ban was announced, Kerley released a flurry of social media posts, one of which featured him and a picture of him bursting through a phalanx of men dressed like military police wearing uniforms with “AIU,” “WADA” (World Anti-Doping Agency) and “USADA” (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) on them.
“I’m tired of holding everything in,” it said. “You can’t control me, and the truth is louder than silence.”
Another post, which could have been a reference to the doping-control officers that arrived on one of the days he missed a test, said “A random number from Mexico that looked like a scam call and I’m supposed to answer that? I live in USA why is a number calling my phone from Mexico.”
Kerley’s suspension will run through Aug. 11, 2027.
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