The Athletics Integrity Unit has cross-appealed the appeal filed by Katir and it’s now pending before the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Mohamed Katir, who was banned for four years after an independent Disciplinary Tribunal ruled he committed tampering, has appealed the decision.
The Spaniard, a multiple major medallist, received the ban back in December, which currently runs until February 2028.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has cross-appealed the appeal filed by Katir and it’s now pending before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
When Katir received his tampering ban, the 27-year-old was already serving a two-year ban for missing three doping tests in 12 months.
This four-year ban runs concurrently with his whereabouts failures sanction, meaning he misses the next two world championships in Tokyo and Beijing but will be able to compete at the LA 2028 Olympics.
Katir, who secured a world 5000m silver medal behind Jakob Ingebrigtsen in Budapest, was found to have falsified travel documents – namely travel itinerary, boarding pass and booking confirmation – in an attempt to mislead investigators as they probed the veracity of his explanation of three missed doping tests over a one-year period.
The AIU’s Disciplinary Tribunal said: “There can be no doubt that Katir put forward a false version of events and altered documents. He did so in order to persuade World Athletics that his whereabouts failure on February 28, 2023 should not be treated as such.
“In those circumstances, it is obvious that Katir committed an anti-doping rules violation by tampering/attempted tampering.”
Katir’s other two whereabouts failures were on April 3 and October 10, 2023. His results since October 10 were already disqualified.
“Gone are the days in athletics when explanations offered in anti-doping cases are just accepted at face value,” AIU Head Brett Clothier said. “Thanks to strong investment in investigations, since its inception in 2017, the AIU has prosecuted 25 Tampering cases.
“The vast majority of our elite athletes respect the strict rules and processes of the sport and they should take heart at the action being taken to ensure a level playing field.”
As well as claiming three major track medals – the other two being a world 1500m bronze and European 5000m silver – Katir is also the European 3000m indoor and 5000m record-holder, with bests of 7:27.64 and 12:45.01 respectively.
The Spaniard’s records however will still stand as they all occurred before October 2023.
