Ukraine track-and-field star Bekh-Romanchuk banned 4 years for doping

MONACO (AP) — Ukrainian track-and-field star Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk was banned for four years after testing positive for testosterone, the Athletics Integrity Unit said Tuesday.

The 30-year-old Bekh-Romanchuk’s ban expires in May 2029 — after two more world championships and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics — and could end her career as a top-level long jumper and triple jumper.

Bekh-Romanchuk won long jump silver at the 2019 worlds and triple jump silver in 2023. She was also European triple jump champion in 2022.

At the Paris Olympics last August, she placed 11th in the triple jump final and took an extended break from the sport.

She tested positive in samples given in December while training in Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, the AIU said in a written judgment. The case was announced in May, when she was due to compete again at a Diamond League meeting in Qatar.

The AIU document said Bekh-Romanchuk did not prove her claim that the level of testosterone was caused by an unspecified medical condition and treatment.

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