Olympic Pole Vaulter Newman Banned 20 Months for Whereabouts Failures

Canadian pole vaulter Alysha Newman, who won bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has received a 20-month ban from competition after committing three whereabouts failures under anti-doping rules.

The Athletics Integrity Unit announced the suspension, which runs until August 2027 and stems from incidents on February 27, August 17, and August 23, 2025. Whereabouts failures occur when athletes fail to provide accurate location information or are unavailable during specified one-hour testing windows, as required by the global anti-doping system. Three such violations within a 12-month period constitute a rule breach. The AIU noted that during the final incident, Newman informed a sample collection official that she needed to leave immediately for a television game show filming.

Newman, 31, received a provisional suspension earlier in 2025, which has now been finalized. The ban length fell short of the standard two years because the AIU accepted her decision to end her athletics career as a mitigating factor. In its verdict, the unit described this as a "sufficiently unique exceptional factor" in assessing her fault. One report indicated an earlier missed test linked to a media engagement.