Fifteen-year-old Kamila Valieva, the gold medal favorite, was caught taking a banned substance, but allowed to compete anyway, pending an investigation. Under immense scrutiny, Valieva had an uncharacteristic meltdown in her free skate, missing the podium altogether. Leaving the ice, she was berated by her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, who left her fellow student, Anna Shcherbakova, alone in the "kiss and cry" to celebrate with no one. It was a spectacle that I hated watching.
MONACO -- The Russian doping crisis that rocked track and field in the 2010s reached a symbolic end Friday with bans and disqualifications for 12 athletes in a final set of disciplinary cases going back over a decade. The Athletics Integrity Unit, which was founded in 2017 as part of track's response to the doping crisis, said this was the "last batch" of proceedings using data from the shuttered Moscow anti-doping laboratory where cases were covered up.
Kenya's women's marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich was banned for three years on Thursday after she admitted to anti-doping rule violations, but her 2:09:56 mark will remain on the books as it was set before her positive test. Chepngetich, who smashed the record in Chicago last October, was provisionally suspended in July this year by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) was detected in a urine sample collected from the athlete on March 14.
(Image credit: Getty Images) Gran Fondos: you've possibly raced one, and almost certainly heard of them. Big events, essentially timed sportives, that take place most weekends across Europe, and increasingly more so across the rest of the world. The biggest ones bring thousands of riders together, and can generate significant revenues for organisers. It's little wonder that each year there are more of them, and that the UCI have jumped on the bandwagon - the sport's world governing body now has a successful Gran Fondo World Series of 25-35 qualifier events that culminate in the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships.
On 1 May 2025, Athletic Club player Yeray Álvarez underwent an in-competition doping control carried out by UEFA following a UEFA Europa League match. The analysis of the player's sample by a WADA-accredited laboratory revealed the presence of Canrenone, which is a substance prohibited in- and out- of competition under the category S5. Diuretics and Masking Agents of the 2025 WADA Prohibited List.
On social media, Kyrgios expressed his disbelief with a single character tweet: an asterisk. This was widely interpreted as a suggestion that Sinner's Wimbledon victory lacked legitimacy.
