The Court of Arbitration of Sport has partially upheld an appeal by World Athletics against the Ethiopian National Anti-Doping Office and Diribe Welteji.
The ruling, announced on Thursday, follows an inquiry after Welteji allegedly refused to provide a sample for an out-of-competition test last February without any justification but was later cleared by Ethiopia’s anti-doping agency in August 2025 in time for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Welteji will be given credit for provisional suspension time served but will still be subject to a remaining period of ineligibility of a two-year ban since the CAS deemed that she was negligible even if her actions were not to deceive a drug test.
According to the ruling, last February three sample collection agents went to Welteji’s home but were told by her husband that she was asleep. The agents left the property without any samples and the arbitrator for the CAS determined that Welteji did not provide adequate justification for failing comply with the agents.
The arbitrator believed that Welteji allegedly being asleep was not a sufficient reason to not meet with the agents and committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation through her actions.
Welteji was issued a provisional suspension, and formally charged in May 2025, with the rule violation subject to a two-year ban.
But a hearing with Ethiopia’s drug testing agency in August 2025, a month before world championships, found that Welteji did not commit the violation. However, the Athletics Integrity Unit, on behalf of World Athletics, appealed and Welteji’s suspension was upheld and she did not compete in Tokyo.
With Wednesday’s ruling, the CAS determined there was a language barrier at the time of the drug test and Welteji has a history of cooperating during testing. But she was still negligible because of her status as a world class athlete who should have been aware of sample collection procedures.
“However, the Sole Arbitrator still determined that the Athlete was negligent, and an athlete of her calibre and experience should have known that she was required to comply regardless of the timing of the visit,” the ruling read. “Consequently, the appeal was partially upheld, with the conclusion that the applicable period of ineligibility under the ADR is two years as the Athlete established that her failure was not intentional.”
But because her testing issue was not deemed intentional, Welteji will get credit for serving part of the provisional suspension in March but her ineligibility will continue until June 2027. She served seven days of the initial provisional suspension in Match 2025 but the two-year ban officially started on July 8, 2025.
The CAS also ruled that any competitive results from Welteji from February 25, 2025 — the date of the sample collection — through the time of the official suspension will be disqualified.
