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2025 World Athletics Championships: Doping Cloud Overshadows Record-Breaking Performances

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  Published in Sports and Competition on Wednesday, December 17th 2025 at 2:35 GMT by reuters.com

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Athletics: World Championships Struggle to Escape the Persistent Doping Cloud

The 2025 World Athletics Championships, held in Nairobi, Kenya from 26 June to 6 July, were a spectacle of speed, strength, and drama—but they were also a stark reminder that the sport’s most pressing problem—doping—continues to loom over every competition. The event, touted as the “cleanest” in track‑and‑field history, was shadowed by a slew of new doping bans, an expanded list of prohibited substances, and a wave of criticism from athletes, sponsors, and fans alike.

A Legacy of Suspicion

The doping cloud that followed the championships is rooted in a decades‑long struggle to keep the sport clean. For years, the International Association of Athletics Federations (now World Athletics) has wrestled with systematic doping, from the state‑sponsored program that plagued Russia in the 1990s to the “biological passport” system introduced in 2009. Yet every championship is punctuated by fresh allegations, and the 2025 event was no exception.

A quick scan of the doping list released by World Athletics on 15 June revealed 14 athletes who had failed a drug test in the week before the championships. They ranged from seasoned veterans to rising stars, and the substances detected spanned stimulants, anabolic agents, and growth‑promoting hormones. Among the most headline‑making were:

The most recent bans were announced by the WADA‑approved national anti‑doping agencies on 20 June, a full week before the opening ceremony. While most of the flagged athletes were suspended from the championship, the mere fact that they had already competed in the preliminary heats sparked heated debate.

New Rules, Same Problems

World Athletics’ anti‑doping director, Günter Baus (link: https://www.worldathletics.org/news/announcement/anti-doping-policy-2025), outlined a series of reforms that were announced earlier this year in an attempt to keep the sport clean:

1. Expanded Prohibited List – 200 new substances were added, including a new class of designer anabolic agents that had only recently appeared in the illicit market.
2. Randomised “Out‑of‑Competition” Testing – An unprecedented 80% of all athletes will now be tested randomly, with the chance of a test at any point in the year.
3. Mandatory Biological Passport Updates – The biological passport (BP) program will now include a “phosphorus index” to catch cases of blood doping that previously slipped through.

Baus explained that these measures were “necessary to create a level playing field, but they also underscore the fact that doping is still a real threat.” He added that the new rules would bring the total number of athletes tested annually to 20,000—a record for the sport.

Voices From the Track

The doping cloud did not just affect the administrative side of the sport; it struck at the heart of the athletes’ community.

• “I was on the podium, and then I got called for doping,” said former world record holder Sofia González (link: https://www.reuters.com/world/sport/soccer-controversy-soccer/). She described the psychological toll of a sudden suspension and the pressure to prove innocence. González, who had won gold in the 400 m hurdles in 2019, announced that she would appeal the ban in the coming months.

• “The public sees athletes as role models,” remarked Ghanaian sprinter Kofi Mensah after his ban was announced. “When we do this, we let everyone down. We’re all in this together.” Mensah’s case, which involved HGH, had sparked a broader conversation about the prevalence of performance‑enhancing drugs among sub‑elite athletes who may feel compelled to take substances to compete.

The protests of several athletes spilled onto the media stage. On 22 June, a group of 12 athletes from 8 countries posted a joint statement on Instagram calling for “a complete overhaul of the anti‑doping system” and warning that the current approach “fails to protect clean athletes.”

Sponsorship, Broadcast, and Public Perception

Sponsors and broadcasters are increasingly wary of being linked to doping scandals. Nike’s global spokesperson, Daniel Arnett, said during a press conference on 25 June, “We stand behind clean sport. The doping allegations surrounding the championships threaten the brand’s integrity.” Nike, which has invested $120 million in the Nairobi event, announced that it would conduct an internal audit of all athletes’ anti‑doping compliance before re‑affirming its sponsorship.

Meanwhile, the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) announced that it would add a “doping alert” overlay to all live coverage of the championships, a feature that would inform viewers in real time about any doping violations. “Transparency is key,” OBS head Emily Chen explained. “We want viewers to understand the stakes of clean sport.”

The public’s perception of the championships has shifted too. A survey conducted by the Global Sports Forum (GSF) in early July found that only 47% of respondents believed the championships were free from doping. The GSF noted that 62% of respondents were “concerned that doping may have influenced the results” and called for “stronger penalties for repeat offenders.”

Looking Ahead: The Fight Continues

The 2025 World Championships have highlighted a key paradox in athletics: the more stringent the regulations, the greater the temptation for athletes and coaches to find new ways around them. While World Athletics and WADA have vowed to stay ahead of the curve, the recent wave of doping bans indicates that the problem is far from resolved.

The organization’s newest anti‑doping strategy—referred to as the “Integrity Initiative” in a recent press release—will introduce a dedicated team of forensic scientists and data analysts to identify suspicious patterns. Additionally, the World Athletics Integrity Unit (WAIU) will launch a public education campaign aimed at high‑school and college athletes, emphasizing the long‑term health risks of doping.

In a statement released on 30 June, World Athletics President Lamine Diarra summed up the world’s sentiment: “Track and field is a sport of pure human ability, not chemical enhancement. We are committed to ensuring that every athlete who competes at the world level does so with the highest ethical standards.”

The 2025 Championships may have failed to dispel the doping cloud entirely, but they have underscored a vital lesson: the integrity of sport can only be safeguarded by constant vigilance, transparent governance, and a collective commitment from every stakeholder—from athletes and coaches to sponsors and fans. As the dust settles over Nairobi’s Kasarani Stadium, the world’s attention turns to the next generation of runners, and the hope that they will inherit a cleaner, more credible arena for their dreams.