Coleman confident over ‘drugs test violation’

US sprint star Christian Coleman on Saturday vowed to fight allegations that he missed three drug tests, saying he is confident a September hearing will clear him to compete at next month’s World Championships.

Coleman, this year’s fastest man in the world over the 100 metres, could face suspension after failing to make himself available for three drug tests over the past 12 months.

A Twitter account listed from NBC Sports’ Olympic editor Nick Zaccardi posted on Saturday a statement from Coleman to the broadcaster’s Ato Boldon, a four-time Olympic spring medalist from Trinidad and Tobago.

“I’m not a guy who takes any supplements at all, so I’m never concerned about taking drug tests, at any time,” Coleman told Boldon. “What has been widely reported concerning filing violations is simply not true. I am confident the upcoming hearing on September 4 will clear the matter and I will compete at the World Championships in Doha this fall.

“Sometime after the hearing, I will be free to answer questions about the matter, but for now I must reserve and respect the process.”

In a statement on Saturday, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) confirmed Coleman had been notified of a potential anti-doping rule violation for failing to properly file his whereabouts information.

The agency said two of the three test attempts involved Usada while the third was initiated by the Monaco-based Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

Usada said a three-person independent American Arbit r at ion A s s oc i at ion/Nor t h A merica n Cour t of A rbit rat ion for Spor t (A A A/C A S ) pa nel w i l l hea r Colema n’s case, with a decision to come by the end of September 5.

Britain’s Daily Mail and the Times newspaper reported Coleman is challenging one of the alleged “whereabouts” failures.

Under global anti-doping rules, athletes must let doping tester know their exact whereabouts up to 90 days in advance in order to facilitate out-ofcompetition testing.

At hletes who fa i l to make themselves available for three d r ug test s a re t reated t he sa me as at hletes who fa i l a dr ug test a nd face a n automatic suspension.

Such a ban on Coleman would be another stain on a sport already reeling from years of doping disgrace, including the recent Russian scandal.

Coleman, the 60m world record-holder and world indoor champion, could be the heir to Jamaican legend Usain Bolt, who retired in 2017.

Coleman was second at the 2017 worlds in London behind mentor Justin Gatlin and owns a personal best of 9.79sec as well as this year’s best time of 9.81sec set in June at Stanford, California.

Depending on the dates of Coleman’s missed tests, if confirmed, he could miss the World Championships and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.