The Athletics Integrity Unit has suspended Alysha Newman for 20 months on whereabouts violations that occurred in a 12-month period.
Newman, 31, has competed for Canada in the pole vault and won bronze at the 2025 Paris Olympics and missed a test and two filing obligations between February and August 2025, according to the AIU. She has accepted the ruling and in the report the violations happened during a time when she said she decided to “gradually bring her international athletics career to an end.”
Under testing rules, athletes are required to update their location within a daily one-hour period to indicate when then will be available to provide a sample.
The first violation occurred on February 27, 2025 and a doping control officer arrived at an address listed for Newman and knocked on the door but did not get a response. The officer waited for just over an hour but was not able find Newman, who later told AIU officials that she misplaced her car keys and was unable to be at the indicated location.
On August 17, 2025, a testing official went to the same address as the first violation and called Newman within the one hour slot and could not reach her. The AIU asked Newman to explain why she did not make herself available to the doping control officer but did not receive a response.
The third violation happened on August 23, 2025 when a testing official arrived at an address Newman provided but she said she needed to leave immediately because she was filming a show and headed to a television studio. The doping control officer allowed Newman to give a sample later that day, which she did, but the AIU determined that the test was conducted outside of the specified one hour window.
Despite Newman’s admission that she no longer has plans to compete professionally, her suspension, which began on December 3, 2025 will end in August 2027.
