World 100m champ Coleman suspended

LOS ANGELES: Reigning world 100m champion Christian Coleman was provisionally suspended on Wednesday over a missed drugs test, putting him at risk of a two-year ban that would rule him out of next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

Coleman, who only narrowly avoided being banned last year after three violations of anti-doping “whereabouts” rules across 2018 and 2019, said in a statement on Twitter that he was the victim of “a purposeful attempt to get me to miss a test.”

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), the anti-doping arm of World Athletics, responded by saying testers had followed the rules when they visited Coleman’s apartment on December 9, 2019.

Coleman said he was out shopping for Christmas presents. “I was more than ready and available for testing and if I had received a phone call I could’ve taken the drug test and carried on with my night,” he said.“I’ve been contacted by phone literally every other time I’ve been tested,” said Coleman.