Eritrean runner suspended ahead of Saturday’s Olympic marathon

The 37-year-old runner, who won two marathons in Europe this spring, has a marathon personal best of 2:07

Anne Francis August 9, 2024

According to a report by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), Kibrom Weldemicael of Eritrea, who was entered in the Olympic men’s marathon scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 10, has been provisionally suspended for a doping violation and will not be allowed to race Saturday’s marathon. In an anti-doping test before the Olympics, Weldemicael’s sample showed the presence of two banned substances.

Weldemicael, 37, has a marathon personal best of 2:07:25, set at the Maratón BP Castellón in Spain on Feb. 25, which he won; he also won this year’s Geneva Marathon on May 5. His best performance at a major marathon was his eighth-place finish at the 2015 London Marathon.

The AIU has provisionally suspended Kibrom Weldemicael (Eritrea) for the Presence/Use of Prohibited Substances (EPO and Furosemide) in relation to a Sample collected before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games period.

Weldemicael tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) and furosemide, a diuretic. EPO occurs naturally in the body but has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances since the 1990s, since it is also used to improve endurance performance or to speed up recovery by boosting red blood cell production. Furosemide is a diuretic, which increases urine production and is sometimes used to flush other banned substances from the body before a doping test.