Sharon Lokedi, a largely unknown figure in elite distance running, came out of nowhere to win the New York City Marathon on Sunday, toppling some of the fastest marathoners in the world.
However, being both a relative unknown and a Kenyan based in the United States allowed Lokedi to fall through a series of cracks of an antidoping system that purports to run one of the most stringent testing regimens in sports.
As a result of those loopholes, the winner of the world’s largest marathon was able to run against women who were subject to far more testing than she was at a time when antidoping authorities have been suspending Kenyan long-distance runners for using banned performance-enhancing drugs at an alarming clip. There is nothing to suggest that Lokedi violated antidoping rules.
On Tuesday, Brett Clothier, head of the Athletics Integrity Unit, the independent organization that oversees drug testing for international track and field, confirmed that Lokedi, 28, was not a part of the special testing program the organization runs for the world’s top marathons.
In a statement, Clothier said that his organization had been forced to reduce the pool of athletes in the Registered Testing Program for the world’s six major marathons during the coronavirus pandemic. This year, his organization tested only the top 80 long-distance road racing competitors (40 men and 40 women), using World Athletics rankings, and Lokedi was not in that group.
“Sharon Lokedi had no ranking in the marathon and she was ranked 47th in the half-marathon,” Clothier said.
Lokedi could not be reached for comment. Her coach, Stephen Haas, did not respond to messages seeking comment.
A spokeswoman for the A.I.U. said the organization had not tested her since June 2021.
Lokedi, who won the women’s marathon in New York in 2 hours 23 minutes 23 seconds, was not subject to more testing before the race, in part, because her running résumé had been unremarkable. She attended the University of Kansas and finished 10th in the N.C.A.A. women’s cross country championship in 2015 and fifth in 2016. Earlier this year, she finished fourth in the New York City Half Marathon, completing the 13.1-mile race in 1:08:14. In June, she finished second in the New York Mini 10K, posting a time of 30:52.
Officials with New York Road Runners, the marathon’s organizer, said they had submitted Lokedi’s name to the A.I.U. in June as part of its professional athlete field and her name was also on subsequent lists. After that, it is up to the A.I.U. to manage the testing. In addition, N.Y.R.R. stated that Lokedi had been subject to testing immediately following the race.
In-competition testing, however, has long been considered an extremely limited tool in combating performance-enhancing drugs because athletes know that they will be tested and can take steps to flush illicit substances from their systems.
Runners in the Registered Testing Program are subject to random, out-of-competition testing. They are required to register a location where they will be for one hour every day.
By subjecting only 40 men and 40 women to the regimen, antidoping officials and the racing executives they work for were essentially gambling that runners outside those groups would not be good enough to compete for major championships.
Clothier said the testing pool would be expanded to 150 men and 150 women in 2023.
Failing to test Lokedi ahead of the race in New York exposed another significant loophole in the antidoping system.
Even though she attended Kansas and often lives and trains in Flagstaff, Ariz., Lokedi does not have to meet the same testing standards as American runners in the United States because she is a foreigner. The country an athlete competes for and the athletic federation that oversees her sport is largely responsible for her testing.
Like the A.I.U., the United States Anti-Doping Agency subjects American runners to the requirement of submitting their daily whereabouts so they can be randomly tested. But foreign athletes don’t have to tell USADA where they are, so antidoping officials in America have no way of knowing where to find them to administer tests.
“We have repeatedly asked for real-time ‘whereabouts’ information in order to ensure that foreign athletes competing or training in the U.S. are robustly tested but we don’t yet have this access,” said Travis Tygart, chief executive of USADA. “While our limited resources are obviously for U.S. athletes, we have to ensure those outside the country training or competing in the N.C.A.A. are effectively tested.”
Tygart said USADA tested Lokedi twice this year, but it is unclear whether those tests took place at races or were random, out-of-competition tests. By comparison, the organization has tested Keira D’Amato, who broke the American women’s record in the marathon in January and competed in New York on Sunday, 11 times this year. The USADA has tested Emily Sisson, the American who broke D’Amato’s record when she finished second in the Chicago Marathon last month, 10 times in 2022.
Haas, Lokedi’s coach, said Sunday that Lokedi trained in Kenya leading into to the marathon. The New York Times could not determine Tuesday whether she was subject to any random out-of-competition testing while she was there.
The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya did respond to messages seeking comment.
Historically, Kenya has had a poor record of monitoring doping and testing athletes.
The A.I.U. said last month that 10 Kenyans have tested positive for triamcinolone, an banned anti-inflammatory medication, since the start of 2021, with only two cases in track and field from the entire rest of the world during the same period. One of those athletes, Diana Kipyokei, won the 2021 Boston Marathon, one of the six World Marathon Majors, then was disqualified after a positive test.
“The cases announced today are part of a recent trend in Kenyan athletics,” the A.I.U. said at the time.
Matthew Futterman
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