NEW YORK – Kenyan runners reacted with dismay on Oct 29 to another doping case involving one of their compatriots, after former New York City Marathon winner Peres Jepchirchir was provisionally suspended, casting a shadow over the build-up to the race on Nov 1.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Oct 23 that it had provisionally suspended Jepchirchir after she tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO in a sample taken before her Sydney Marathon victory.

Her agent said at the time: “I can only say that I feel terrible about what happened and I think it’s only right that an athlete who uses the performance enhancing drugs should be disqualified.”

“It’s so shameful," said men’s defending champion Benson Kipruto. “Somebody like that, high-profile name, can ruin the name of athletes not only in Kenya but all over the world because we are here now, running, and maybe people will say ‘no, these people are not clean’.”

Jepchirchir completed one of marathon running’s greatest achievements when she won the five-borough classic just weeks after taking Olympic gold in 2021.

Kipruto called for more testing in the run-up to the World Marathon Majors, particularly among highly decorated athletes.

“If I’m coming to run the New York City Marathon and I have some appearance fee, I would propose that they cut my appearance fee and send to AIU people to come and intensify my testing for maybe three months to make sure I’m clean and I come here to run clean,” he said.

More than 140 Kenyan athletes have faced doping sanctions since the AIU was established in 2017 and Jepchirchir’s provisional suspension is a fresh embarrassment just weeks after World Athletics awarded its world championships to Nairobi for 2029.

Athletics Kenya said on Oct 26 that it maintains an “unwavering policy of zero tolerance to doping”.

Jepchirchir is allowed to appeal and request an analysis of her B sample.

New York’s defending women's champion Hellen Obiri said the news meant anti-doping measures were working but stopped short of assigning guilt until the B sample analysis occurs.

“If (it is) true, that would be shocking news and it would be so bad for the Kenyans,” said Obiri.

The athletics community was also hit by tragedy on Oct 29, when the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation expressed its condolences following the death of 24-year-old long jumper Julieta Gallego, who was among the victims of the train collision in Toledo province that killed at least 69 people.

“The Spanish athletics family joins in the grief over the passing of Julieta Gallego, athlete of AD Sprint, in the train accident that occurred in Urda (Toledo),” the federation (RFEA) said in a statement on X, offering its support to her family, friends and club teammates.

Gallego competed for Madrid-based AD Sprint and was a regular participant in Spain’s club championships. Her long jump personal best was 5.90m, set in Antequera in 2023.

“There are blows that strike at the very heart of the athletics family. Today, the sport mourns the passing of Julieta, a life ahead of her that has been unjustly extinguished,” RFEA president Raul Chapado told Spanish newspaper ABC.

Two high-speed trains collided on Oct 28 in the second deadly accident in less than a year on the line connecting Madrid to southern Andalusia. REUTERS