Probably when she saw it was only a 2 year ban she jumped at the slap on the wrist. Amazing that her coach (or manager?) coached 2 men (also Kenyans) who won and placed highly 2 years ago at a major trail race only to be caught doping. Second time offense with same coach r agent should incur penalties for the organizational reps as well.
With this in the news, wondering if CTS and Jason Koop are going to be looked at after Katie Schides recent victories at Hardrock and podium finish at Sierre Zinal… something sus about that being so close together and 2 different running disciplines.. 🤷🏻♂️
I love that they dropped her instantly. I wish every other brand of the same and Nike should have taken notes with that Houlihan situation.
At least Nike allegedly fired Houlihan, and didn't rehire her (yet), but did so with Gatlin. Maybe the times are changing, and even Nike doesn't officially support dopers anymore.
If Houlihan keeps winning medals again like Gatlin did I have nor doubts Nike would offer her a new contract.
Salomon deserves no kudos. They dropped Lyon and his group 3 years too late. They only did it now because of the action taken by Sierra Vinal calling attention to their shady sponsorship. They dropped several American athletes when they decided to sponsor this doping team/group and are Chinese owned, so perhaps I’m biased.
Salomon deserves no kudos. They dropped Lyon and his group 3 years too late. They only did it now because of the action taken by Sierra Vinal calling attention to their shady sponsorship. They dropped several American athletes when they decided to sponsor this doping team/group and are Chinese owned, so perhaps I’m biased.
This team was sponsored by On until the end of last year. Salomon brought them on this year despite their sketchy reputation. Saying that, a lot of articles and posters seem to say that Esther Chesang, the 2022 winner of Sierra-Zinal who won the race while she should have been serving a ban from an earlier failed test, was a part of the team. I don’t think she was.
This post was edited 33 seconds after it was posted.
Reason provided:
Grammar
Probably when she saw it was only a 2 year ban she jumped at the slap on the wrist. Amazing that her coach (or manager?) coached 2 men (also Kenyans) who won and placed highly 2 years ago at a major trail race only to be caught doping. Second time offense with same coach r agent should incur penalties for the organizational reps as well.
If you can run and win, and take home decent money, then just sit for 2 years, that's not a bad deal at all.
She unfortunately "won" as she isn’t disqualified for Marathon du Mont Blanc where she won 10 000$ (maybe also an extra sponsor bonus) and the results of last year. When I went to Iten I met Kangogo the 2022 doped Sierre Zinal winner and he said that with 1000$/ year if you had a little land you live comfortably there.
Last year she won Sierre Zinal out of nowhere..it was her first trail race. If you know Sierre Zinal (and also OCC of course) it's where the crème de la crème of elite trail runners meet..it's so so competitive and you don't just win that without years and years of trail experience. Man it sucks that trail running is getting doped to the gills now as well ughhh.
Oddly enough I'm vacationing in SWZ right now after having run a wild mountain 100k here last week. I specifically drove over here to Sierre and Zinal just to see parts of this famed course - looks awesome. I rode a lift up to the flatter/rolling section up high and trotted (still in recovery mode) over to the Hotel Weisshorn.
Oh wait, it's not about me. Yeah, I watch the coverage of the race every year and was kind of put off by the announcing last year where they went way way over the top praising Joyline "the mom who lost 66kg in a year training 26 miles/day after not having run for a decade..." blah blah ad nauseum. It all seemed way too fairyland at the time, and now confirmed.
Oh yeah, and don't forget this year's coverage where we learned she spent all those earnings buying her son a bicycle, because she's a mom like that you know. :::puke:::
Final thought - I visited a Swiss friend (I paced him at the 2018 Hardrock) who is also a race director here. He said he has met the (now banned) coach and thought he was a nice guy, so he's (my friend) kind of perplexed, while also being outraged at the doping.