Canadian Olympic bronze medalist pole vaulter Alysha Newman has been suspended for 20 months after three missed drug tests, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced.
Newman won bronze for Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympics and recently competed in Diamond League meetings in Qatar and Morocco in May 2025.
The AIU said Newman missed an unannounced doping control in February 2024 and twice more in August 2024. Three so-called “whereabouts” failures in 12 months constitute an anti-doping rules violation.
During the third incident, Newman told a sample collection official she had to leave immediately to film a television game show.
The global anti-doping system requires athletes to specify a one-hour period each day when they will be available for testing.
Newman’s suspension runs through August 2027-shorter than the standard two years because the AIU accepted she had decided to end her pole vaulting career, calling it a “sufficiently unique/exceptional factor.”
Newman also competed in two world championships finals, won gold and bronze at the Commonwealth Games, and took bronze at the Pan American Games.