Fred Kerley Banned Two Years
U.S. Olympic medalist Fred Kerley has been banned for two years for missing multiple required doping tests. The world champion sprinter violated anti-doping regulations by failing to provide whereabouts for out-of-competition testing — meaning he'll miss the 2027 World Championships and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The ban was issued by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), an independent body that manages integrity issues for World Athletics. A disciplinary tribunal found Kerley to be "negligent and, to a certain extent, reckless" in his failure to comply with anti-doping regulations. His suspension is backdated to August 12, 2025, and will run until August 11, 2027. Elite athletes in a registered testing pool must provide their location details for one 60-minute window each day for potential out-of-competition testing. Any combination of three filing failures or missed tests within a 12-month period is considered an anti-doping rule violation. Kerley's three whereabouts failures occurred between May 11 and December 6, 2024. The 30-year-old sprinter is a multiple-time world champion, most notably winning the 100m gold at the 2022 World Championships. He is also a two-time Olympic medalist in the 100m, securing a silver at the 2020 Tokyo Games and a bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In addition to the ban, Kerley has been ordered to pay World Athletics £3,000 in legal fees and other expenses. All of his competitive results between December 6, 2024, and August 12, 2025, have been disqualified. Kerley has the right to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Shortly after his provisional suspension, he announced his intention to compete in the Enhanced Games, a proposed event that does not have drug testing.
