The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) on Thursday banned Kenyan long-distance runner Patrick Siele for violating the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules.
The 24-year-old was banned for three years and six months for evading, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection. The ban was backdated from March 16 while all his results from December 18 2019 have all been disqualified.
In July, Siele was one of four Kenyan runners sanctioned for various anti-doping violations. He and 2017 World 1,500m champion Elijah Manangoi were provisionally suspended while the other two were banned after they tested positive for prohibited substances.
The AIU said that Siele ran away from a training camp in Kapsabet, Kenya, in December last year after he was notified that two Doping Control Officers (DCOs) had been authorised by the AIU on behalf of World Athletics to collect an out-of-competition blood sample from him.
“When DCO 2 saw the Athlete attempting to leave, he followed the Athlete out of the building and it was clear to the DCO that he was running away from testing. An independent witness also confirmed that he had seen the Athlete hurdling over a fence to escape from the compound,” the AIU said.
The AIU said it received a letter in March in which Siele admitted that he evaded the sample collection.
“The AIU is satisfied on the facts that the Athlete intended to evade the AIU’s sample collection on 18 December 2019. The Athlete has admitted that he was aware that the AIU was seeking to test him on that day and that he took steps intended to avoid being tested by running away from the camp.”
Siele could have been banned for four years but received a six-month reduction in the four-year sanction as he promptly admitted the violation among other factors such as the seriousness of his violation and his relative degree of fault.
The AIU added that the decision against the Kenyan could be appealed.
Siele’s best finish at an event was sixth in last year’s Shanghai International Marathon in a personal best time of 2:10:42.
Siele’s sanctions come in the wake of another Kenyan long-distance runner, Philip Cheruiyot Kangogo, being banned for two years for the presence and use of a prohibited substance.
