Katir Suspended Again for Anti-Doping Violation

Spanish middle-distance athlete Mohamed Katir, a two-time medalist at the World Championships, has been saddled with a four-year suspension by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for manipulating anti-doping protocols. This ban renders him ineligible to compete until February 2028. He was charged with an ADRV violation pursuant to Rule 2.5 of the Anti-Doping Rules, i.e., Tampering or Attempted Tampering with any part of Doping Control.

Originally, in February 2024, Katir received a two-year suspension after admitting to three “whereabouts” failures within a 12-month span, a requirement outlined by anti-doping rules. During the follow-up investigation, the AIU found that Katir had forged travel documents, which included travel itineraries, boarding passes, and booking confirmations, in an effort to mislead investigators about his whereabouts for one of the missed testing dates, specifically on 28 February 2023. This tampering resulted in an additional three years being added to his suspension since the current ban runs concurrently with the previous ban.

Katir, who earned a bronze in the 1500 meters at the 2022 World Championships and a silver in the 5000 meters at the 2023 World Championships, will be unable to participate in several significant events, such as the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo and the 2027 World Championships in Beijing. The AIU’s disciplinary tribunal highlighted the gravity of tampering violations, indicating that Katir’s actions were a conscious attempt to mislead anti-doping officials. However, there was no disqualification of any medals, titles, points, prize money or prizes obtained prior to February 7, 2024, since the tampering had occurred at the time of the first whereabouts failure, and the athlete had not benefited from a competitive advantage, which affected his results.