Eight-year ban for drug cheat Eglay Nalyanya

2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Eglay Nafuna Nalyanya has been banned for eight years by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), for violations of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules (ADR).

Nalyanya had been provisionally suspended by the AIU in May 2022 over the use of a Prohibited Substance (19-Norandrosterone) and tampering with any part of Doping Control by an Athlete.

The suspension of Nalyanya marked another blow for Kenyan athletics amid a series of anti-doping rule violations.

The AIU has now confirmed Nalyanya will serve a eight-year ban. 

Nalyanya claimed that she visited a hospital in Uasin Gishu County in January 2022 for medical assistance where he got an injection of sustanon.

 However, AIU doctors said that sustanon is not the source of the adverse analytical findings for 19-Norandrosterone, a metabolite of Nandrolone, despite the similarities in the molecular structure of the two compounds.

It added that the doctor she claimed treated her was not employed at the facility and that the medical notes were not generated at the facility.

Nalyanya's  period of ineligibility begins on October 18, 2022, the date on which she was provisionally suspended.

She  had been selected for Kenya in the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia in March but was pulled out due to tests.

Kenya was placed in the top category of the World Anti-Doping Agency's compliance watch list in 2016, which means that athletes from the country have to undergo at least three tests in the ten months before a major event to be able to compete there.

In November 2022, the country avoided sanctions by World Athletics after committing to spend $25m over the next five years to combat doping.