Former 1,500m world champ Manangoi banned for 2 years

MONACO (AP) - Former world champion runner Elijah Manangoi was banned for two years on Friday over missed drug tests and will miss the Tokyo Olympics.

The 1,500-meter gold medalist at the 2017 worlds accepted he missed three tests in less than six months last year, track and field's Athletics Integrity Unit said.

Athletes risk a two-year ban if they are unavailable for testing, or fail to update details where they can be found by sample collection officials, three times within 12 months.

The 27-year-old Kenyan is banned through Dec. 21, 2021.

Manangoi's case is similar to a two-year ban imposed last month on men's 100-meter world champion Christian Coleman for whereabouts failures.

Another whereabouts case involving women's 400-meter world champion Salwa Eid Naser has been taken by the AIU to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Manangoi won the 1,500 at the 2017 worlds in London and took silver in Beijing two years earlier. He is the reigning Commonwealth Games and African champion.

Manangoi previously said the missed tests had 'œnothing to do with prohibited substances.'ť

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