Albert Korir banned for five years after positive tests

The Kenyan secured the final podium spot ahead of Great Britain’s Patrick Dever at last year’s New York City Marathon.

Albert Korir has been banned for five years by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for the prohibited substance CERA on three separate occasions.

The 32-year-old won the 2021 New York City Marathon and has secured a podium spot in the Big Apple on four other occasions, the most recent being his third place finish at last year’s edition.

However just one month before Korir ran 2:08:57 in New York last November, finishing one second ahead of Great Britain’s Patrick Dever, he returned three separate out-of-competition samples in Kenya that all came back positive for CERA.

CERA is an acronym for Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator and it is a third-generation of Erythropoietin (EPO).

It’s banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency because it enhances athletic performance by increasing red blood cell production, which improves the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity and endurance.

Korir provided two out-of-competition urine samples in Kapkitony on October 3 and October 21 respectively, as well as an out-of-competition blood sample in Kipkabus on October 13.

All three samples were subsequently tested in Stockholm and on January 8, Korir was notified of the adverse findings in all of his samples. The Kenyan admitted the violations four days later.

Given Korir failed to establish that he did not knowingly commit the anti-doping violations, he’s been banned for five years, with one year taken off given he admitted them and accepted the sanction.

It means that Dever, who was making his marathon debut in the Big Apple, will be upgraded to third as Korir’s results from October 3 have been disqualified.

Dever’s run will go down as one of the best British male performances at the NYC Marathon since Steve Jones triumphed with 2:08:20 in 1988.