ATHLETICS ROCKED BY DRUG SHOCK
Australian athletics has been rocked by a drugs scandal with the daughter of Olympic gold medallist and former senator Nova Peris testing positive.
Sprinter Jessica Peris was forced to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games selection trials on the Gold Coast after a banned substance was detected in a sample taken by ASADA.
It’s not known what substance is involved and confirmation is expected within days after testing of the B sample.
The 27-year-old had been on track to follow in her mother’s footsteps after making strides over summer.
She had set new
100m and
200m personal bests on several occasions which not only put her in the frame for Commonwealth Games selection but also caught the attention of drug testers.
Last month Peris defeated rising star Riley Day – who won the sprint double at the trials at the weekend – at the Glynis Nunn Shield in Queensland, running 11.41 sec.
She last raced at the Summer Down Under Series in Canberra on January 20-21 where she finished second in the 100m and 200m.
In December she clocked a Commonwealth Games B-standard qualifying time of 23.31 sec in the 200m.
The Peris revelation comes just a fortnight after Australian marathoner Cassie Fien accepted a nine-month ban for taking the banned substance Higenamine.
The 32-year-old Fien, who represented Australia twice at the world half marathon championships, tested positive in April, 2017.
Peris had previously quit athletics after struggling with expectations surrounding her mother, who won Olympic gold in hockey and Commonwealth Games gold on the track.