Kisorio among Kenyans suspended by AIU in latest suspected doper’s list

Kenya’s long-distance runner Mathew Kisorio is among Kenyan athletes that have been suspended or banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) in the latest list of Word Athletics Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of offenders.

“The AIU has banned long-distance runner Morris Gachaga of Kenya for two years for Whereabouts failures. Two other athletes Mathew Kisorio and Justus Kimutai, both from Kenya, have been provisionally suspended for Whereabouts failures,” AIU wrote on their official Twitter handle. 

Kisorio was, in 2012, banned for two years, serving his suspension until July 2014 after steroids were found in his system during a National Championship. 

The 32-year who won the African junior 5,000m and 10,000m titles in 2007 and captained the 2011 World Cross Country Championships team to Punta Umbria, Spain came back to the sport in 2014 after serving his ban with the intention of representing the country in the 2016 Rio Olympics.  

In an interview with German broadcaster ARD while still serving his first suspension, Kisorio is reported to have told the broadcaster that he took illegal drugs because everyone told him he would not be the only one and none of the others got caught for doping. 

Others nabbed in the latest list is Morris Munene, who competed in the men's race at the 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships held in Gdynia, Poland. In 2019, he was also part of team Kenya in the men's half marathon at the African Games held in Rabat, Morocco. 

The 26-year old Paris half marathon 2017 winner’s suspension has been back-tracked to 4 March and his results from 13 December 2021 disqualified. He, however, has a chance to appeal the decision. 

“In this instance, the Athlete has had three Whereabouts Failures in the twelve-month period beginning on 19 December 2020, specifically: a Missed Test on 19 December 2020; a Missed Test, alternatively a Filing Failure, on 6 October 2021; and a Missed Test, alternatively a Filing Failure, on 13 December 2021,” read the AIU decision. 

Kimutai on his part is one of the athletes that took part in the INEOS 1:59 challenge. He has previously won the Lanzhou International Marathon in China in a time of 2:11:47. The Kenyan was third in the Lisbon Marathon in 2018 with a personal best of 2:07:58 and also finished third in the 2019 Houston Marathon in 2:10:25.