Anti-doping watchdogs will not appeal Coleman decision

PARIS: World anti-doping watchdogs said Wednesday they would not challenge a decision by US anti-doping chiefs to clear sprinter Christian Coleman of alleged doping violations.

US sprinter Coleman, the fastest man over 100m this year, had faced a potential two-year suspension after drug-testers reported they were unable to locate him on three separate occasions in a 12-month period.

However the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) dropped the case after determining that the time-frame exceeded the specified one-year period.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which monitors anti-doping efforts said it would not appeal the decision as did the Athletics Integrity Unity, set up by the IAAF as an independent body to police doping in track and field.

“WADA will not be appealing this decision,” the world agency told AFP, with the AIU saying in a separate statement it would no appeal. Coleman’s whereabouts failures were recorded on June 6 last year, on January 16 this year and April 26.

However Coleman successfully argued that the first missed case should have been backdated to the first day of that quarter — April 1, 2018 — meaning the three failures fell outside the required 12-month period.