World champion runner Norah Jeruto on course for Paris Olympics after legal win in doping case

FILE - Gold medalist Norah Jeruto, of Kazakhstan, poses during a medal ceremony for the women's 3000-meter steeplechase at the World Athletics Championships on July 21, 2022, in Eugene, Ore. Jeruto is on course to race at the Paris Olympics after track and field’s world governing body failed in an attempt to have her banned in a doping case. Jeruto was born in Kenya and won the world title for Kazakhstan two years ago. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The 2022 world champion steeplechase runner Norah Jeruto is on course to race at the Paris Olympics after track and field's world governing body failed in an attempt to have her banned in a doping case.

Jeruto, who was born in Kenya and won the world title for Kazakhstan two years ago, was initially cleared last year by a different disciplinary tribunal after blaming unusual blood test results on stomach ulcers and a bout of COVID-19.

World Athletics appealed against that decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport seeking a four-year ban for Jeruto. CAS said Tuesday the appeal had been dismissed.

Jeruto missed the chance to defend her world title last year while provisionally suspended in the case.

No banned substance was found in Jeruto’s system. Instead, the case turned on whether blood samples from 2020 and 2021 were unusual enough to count as evidence of breaking anti-doping rules.

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The Associated Press