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Kenyan Daniel Wanjiru has had a charge issued against him for the apparent use of a prohibited substance. The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) identifies it as an Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) case, meaning that they likely found an anomaly in his blood sample enough so to warrant the charge.

The 27-year-old cannot race until his case is heard.

He is the winner of the 2017 London Marathon and the 2016 Amsterdam Marathon where he set the course record with his current personal best of 2:05:21. He owns a half-marathon best of 59:20 and won the Prague Half Marathon twice.

The year he won the London Marathon, he bettered Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele. Bekele owns the second-fastest marathon all-time at 2:01:41 behind only Eliud Kipchoge at 2:01:39 – both run at the Berlin Marathon.

Wanjiru’s best is the 128th fastest performance all-time.

On facebook, the following was posted by Volare Sports, his management company:

Voorthuizen, 14th April 2020 – As the management of Mr Daniel Wanjiru we have received a Notice of Charge and Provisional Suspension regarding an alleged Anti-Doping Rule Violation by Daniel last Friday. The accusation concerns alleged Use of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method pursuant to Article 2.2 ADR on the basis of alleged abnormal variations in the haematological profile.

In response to this accusation Daniel Wanjiru states: “This statement comes from the heart. I am clean in the sports I do. The ABP finding is confusing and frustrating me. Specialists have informed me about how this can happen and I have come to realize there can be hundreds of reasons found why HB is fluctuating. I feel I am already seen as a sinner of doping, but I am not. I am innocent. It’s very painful what’s happening to me now. I’ve always believed that those athletes who are suspended because of a doping violation, were indeed guilty of what they did. But I’ve realized that being charged of guilt is just easy and now proving being unguilty is hard. I stand for clean sports. My results of the past came through hard work only. I have never used doping. We are currently investigating the case. Knowing I have never used anything, I have faith everything will be all right.”

We emphasize that no prohibited substance was found. The accusation is based on an assumption. As management we regret this case is happening. We are already trying to get to the bottom of this in order to find the truth.