THE LATEST in the aches, pains & eligibility departments:
Ethiopia’s Ruti Aga is under an AIU provisional suspension after testing positive and tampering with the investigation. The 2:18:09 marathoner has made the podium at 5 World Marathon Majors.
German sprinter Owen Ansah is fighting a 4-year ban recommended by the German anti-doping agency and has requested arbitration.
In trying to break the marathon WR in Berlin, Tigst Assefa sustained a what is being called a “complete and complex rupture” of her Achilles in the latter stages of the race. The Ethiopian star had emergency surgery the next day. Says her agent, “She will rest for two months following a rehabilitation program and we hope she can start walking on the third month, and running after three months if everything goes well.”
Kenenisa Bekele has once again withdrawn from a major marathon (Berlin this time) because of injury (left Achilles).
Indian javelin ace Neeraj Chopra ended his season after Lausanne, explaining, “I sustained a ligament tear in my ankle during training. After discussions with my doctor and team, we have decided that I will sit out the rest of this season.” He missed the Ultimate Champs and the Asian Games.
Tara Davis-Woodhall missed the Ultimate Champs after sustaining a severe concussion after a head-on car collision in a parking lot while on the way to practice. “Both cars were totaled,” she said. “It was very scary and I’m lucky to be alive. For now I’m taking it day by day. It’s unfortunate as I was at the peak of my training.”
Olympic triple jump gold medalist Jordan Díaz has reportedly made his way to Kansas State to train with coach Travis Geopfert, who also coaches Tara Davis-Woodhall. Díaz, who split from his coach in March has not competed this year.
Mondo Duplantis had to miss the DL Final because of tightness in his adductor and thigh. “It’s terrible,” he said.. “This leg problem started in London. Since then, it had been going pretty well, and I’ve been working hard, but the pain returned in Zürich. I kept going anyway, probably a bit too hard. I told myself that if I felt that irritation during my warmup, I wouldn’t jump.” He returned to the vault wars and won at the Ultimate Champ.
Swiss long jumper/decathlete Simon Ehammer has gotten surgery on his heel and ankle. He posted, “Over the past two years we’ve tried and exhausted pretty much every conservative treatment option and in the end surgery was the step we had to take to get me back to feeling 100% and prepare properly for my road to LA28.”
Scottish runner Neil Gourley, a ’24 Olympic 1500 finalist, has undergone knee surgery.
Keely Hodgkinson says that her oft-injured hamstring is unique. “My body is quite literally built differently. Where most people have one tendon, mine is split. I have two and we’re trying to figure out if it’s a strength or a weakness. So when one of them tore, I still had another one because it’s split. In Birmingham, it didn’t affect me during the race, but I could feel something wasn’t quite right. It’s a weird one. You can still run on them. I haven’t missed any training the last three weeks. But I’ve just had to alter my approach. I’ve had to take my foot off the speed [training], because that’s when it’s most risky.”
In his only race of the year, Josh Hoey set an 800 WR then sat out the rest of the season. He has reportedly returned to training after a hamstring injury ultimately led to a stress fracture in his lower left leg that derailed his season.
Sage Hurta-Klecker is still having foot pain while wearing spikes, so she shut down her season early.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen withdrew from the Ultimate Champs 1500, saying he wasn’t sharp enough. “Unfortunately I’m not in a position to go in back-to-back races. I would love for it to be different, and to be sharper in terms of recovery, but coming from a very difficult last two years with injury problems and Achilles surgery I am forced to be more sensible than I would like to be. Ultimately, it is about getting back into racing, getting back to 100% fitness, and thinking about 2027.”
Jamaican sprint great Shericka Jackson pulled up in Lausanne. She says the injury, combined with mental health struggles, ended her season. “Just when I’m finally finding my rhythm again, here comes mid-2026 season messing with my mental health. Not how I wanted to end my season, but this is my journey.”
Dani Jones ended her campaign after racing at Falmouth: “Called it at season after dealing with injuries for much of the year. Disappointing (of course) but hoping this big reset is just what my body needs to chase the big, scary goals I have for ’27 and ’28.”
The AIU has hit Harbert Kibet with a provisional suspension after a positive test finding for steroids. In the Ugandan’s 10K road debut in February he ran 26:39.
Niels Laros has revealed that he had Achilles surgery in August. “The injury that led to the DNF in Tokyo last year and unfortunately kept me off the track more often than on it in this year is (hopefully) fixed. The surgery went well, and now the real recovery has begun.”
Renaud Lavillenie had hamstring surgery in September, just after his 40th birthday, which he celebrated by trying (and failing) to break Jeff Hartwig’s M40 WR of 18-8¾ (5.71).
Alabama’s 5-time NCAA champion Doris Lemngole has turned pro early, signing a contract with On.
Bothered by a “small strain,” Noah Lyles cut his season short (see “Last Lap”).”
Reports have emerged that Olympic (’16) and World (’17) 110H champion Omar McLeod of Jamaica is facing a possible 2-year suspension for whereabouts failures. He did not compete this past season.
Kenyan 800 star Mary Moraa, the ’23 world champion, had a grim season, with a best that was over 2:08. She explains, “Since last year, after the World Championships in Tokyo, I fell sick. I came back home and continued getting treatment until June, when the doctors gave me a clean bill of health.”
Euro vault champ Angelica Moser had surgery on her hand after the conclusion of her season, “to take care of pain that has been bothering me for quite some time already.”
Rio’s Olympic 400H champ Dalilah Muhammad has finally retired at 36, her last race coming at the Ultimate Champs: “I know I’ve said it before, but this is it.”
Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala ended his season with a stress fracture in his left heel.
Elle St. Pierre has announced that she is pregnant with her third child. She is training through the pregnancy like she did the last two, and says she is looking forward to a “2027 comeback season, then all eyes on 2028 because 3-time mom and 3-time Olympian would sound pretty cool.”
French hurdler Cyrena Samba-Mayela has been provisionally suspended by AIU for whereabouts failures. She has not competed since mid-July.
Less than a year after switching her nationality to Nigeria, sprinter Kelly Ufodiama switched back to the United States.
Saying, “This year was about getting healthy, happy, and strong again plus building a foundation for what’s ahead,” Parker Valby officially ended her season after three races.
Kenya’s Emmanuel Wafula, a 59:42 half-marathoner, has been provisionally suspended after a positive test for testosterone.
South Korean high jumper Sang-hyeok Woo has revealed that what his team called a light abrasion on his left foot from a May meet was actually a ruptured ligament on the top of the foot. He missed two months of competition but managed a bronze at the Asian Games.
Yearly javelin leader Ziyi Yan injured her right ankle and foot at the Ultimate Champs and withdrew from the competition. Still hurting at the Asian Games she nonetheless won gold with her only throw.
Doping bans:
6 years — Dickson Cheruiyot (Kenya, marathon);
3 years — Tiruye Mesfin (Ethiopia, marathon);
2 years — Philemon Kiplimo (Kenya, marathon). □
