Canadian Olympian Alysha Newman hit with suspension for anti-doping violations
A Canadian Olympic bronze medalist has been hit with a suspension due to anti-doping violations.
Alysha Newman was hit with a provisional suspension for whereabouts failures from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old Olympian was a standout athlete for Canada at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in pole vault with a national record height of 4.85 metres. It was also the first time Canada medaled in pole vault.
The Ontario native has not competed since May 2025.
The AIU has provisionally suspended Alysha Newman (Canada) for Whereabouts Failures
Details here: https://t.co/Y8LF9j2o9f pic.twitter.com/xoMBYhFDzJ— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) February 4, 2026
According to the AIU, whereabouts failures boil down to two distinct categories: filing errors and missed tests. Athletes are required to update their location information to ensure that they can be reached for testing.
A suspension of two years will be handed down if an athlete accumulates any combination of three whereabouts failures in a 12-month span. That suspension can be downgraded to one year depending on how much the athlete is at fault for the failures.
Newman posted a video to Instagram on Thursday morning, where she denied taking any performance-enhancing drugs.
“I’ve never taken any enhanced drugs, I’ve never taken steroids,” Newman said. “The point of this suspension is simply a missed failure test of the whereabouts.
“We have to report one hour a day at an address, 365 days a year, and I’ve never missed three in a calendar year since I was 16 years old. I fell short this year. We’re in the process, we’re gonna figure it out, and I will see you guys back on the track.”
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Athletics Canada released a statement shortly after the suspension was announced.
“While Athletics Canada provides ongoing guidance and reminders to athletes on the requirements for declaring whereabouts, the athlete is ultimately responsible for providing the information in a timely matter as required,” the statement read.
“This is an unfortunate situation, and Athletics Canada hopes to see Alysha Newman back as part of our National Team Program when she is eligible.”
Athletics Canada Statement on Alysha Newman’s AIU provisional suspension (Whereabouts Failures): https://t.co/yLVW4K7scK pic.twitter.com/3SB9ExeWej
— Athletics Canada (@AthleticsCanada) February 4, 2026
Newman is the second prominent Canadian Olympian to be suspended for whereabouts failures over the past four months. Back in November, swimmer Penny Oleksiak was handed a two-year ban from swimming events for the same reason.