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The last country on earth that can afford the reputational damage of suspending its doping testing program is Russia and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSDA). Due to the Covid-19 pandemic that is exactly what they need to do their part to flatten the curve. It’s the right thing to do at the wrong time, for them.
Margarita Pakhnotskaya, the director-general of RUSADA told TASS news agency, “testing will be halted.”
The suspension of testing started on March 27.
President Vladimir Putin had ordered that non-essential workers stay home.
Doping news
Kenyan Vincent Kipsegechi Yator has been suspended for four years after testing positive in October 2019 for banned substances.
The 30-year-old marathon runner tested positive for metabolites of testosterone from a July 7, 2019 test. He was also caught in another test for exogenous testosterone, trimetazidine, prednisone, and prednisolone.
His personal best is 2:09:59 from the 2019 Gold Coast Marathon, which took place July 7, the date of the former test.
The four-year ban will effectively finish his career as an elite athlete.
Yator owns a 5,000-metre personal best of 13:04.50, 10,000m 27:25.94, road 10K of 27:34. He has run the half-marathon distance in the time of 59:55.
During the World U20 Championships in 2008, he ran the 5,000m in 13:35.67. It is possible that he has been doping since then as his performances have been steady throughout his 12-year-long career.
