Spain’s Mohamed Katir, the 2023 World 5000m silver medalist, already banned for missing drug tests, has received another ban for falsifying documents to mislead doping investigators.
Katir, 26, was previously banned until February 2026 for missing three drug tests in a 12-month span.
He has now received an additional four-year ban, which will run concurrently to the two year-ban and end in February 2028.
Katir falsified a travel itinerary, boarding pass and booking confirmation “in an attempt to mislead investigators as they probed the veracity of his explanation” for missing a drug test on Feb. 28, 2023.
“Gone are the days in athletics when explanations offered in anti-doping cases are just accepted at face value,” AIU head Brett Clothier said in a press release.
This past February, Katir accepted a two-year ban after he was not present for out-of-competition drug test attempts on Feb. 28, April 3 and Oct. 10 in 2023 at his registered locations.
Katir also earned 1500m bronze at the 2022 Worlds. He was the world’s second-fastest 1500m runner in 2023 by best time over the course of the year.
