Running News Daily

Ugandan middle-distance runner Prisca Chesang given two-year ban for masking agent

On Friday, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) issued a two-year ban for two-time U20 world championship medalist Prisca Chesang of Uganda. Chesang tested positive for the banned diuretic and masking agent furosemide.

Chesang’s positive test came out-of-competition, at a training camp in Kapchorwa, Uganda, on Sept. 14. She was in Kapchorwa preparing for the women’s mile at the 2023 World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia, where she placed 18th overall, on Oct. 1. 

The 20-year-old is a two-time world U20 medalist in the women’s 5,000m, winning bronze at both the 2021 and 2022 U20 championships. According to the AIU, they did not discover any evidence that Chesang’s actions were intentional and therefore she was only given a two-year ban instead of four years. Chesang admitted to the Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV); her result from the 2023 World Road Running Championships will be disqualified, and she will serve a two-year ban, until Dec. 6, 2025.

Furosemide is a diuretic, meaning it increases urine production, eliminating excess water and salt from the body. (It is also used for losing weight.) Furosemide also serves as a masking agent for other performance-enhancing substances that leave the body through urination, and therefore show up in a urine test. The drug has been prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for decades.

Chesang is one of Uganda’s top up-and-coming distance runners and represented the East African nation at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the women’s 5,000m (but failed to advance from the heats). Her top senior championship finish was a seventh-place result at the 2023 World XC Championships in Bathurst, Australia, helping Uganda’s women’s team win bronze.

Chesang is only the second female Ugandan runner to be suspended by the AIU. The country’s first came in Nov. 2023, when Janat Chemusto was given a four-year ban for the use of a prohibited substance.