Athletics

Former Dublin Marathon winner Taoufik Allam tests positive for EPO

Ukrainian runner Nataliya Lehonkova, a two-time Dublin Marathon winner, also provisionally suspended for EPO use

Taoufik Allam winning the 2022 Irish Life Dublin Marathon. The Moroccan athlete has been provisionally suspended from competition after testing positive for performance-enhancing EPO. Photograph: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Taoufik Allam winning the 2022 Irish Life Dublin Marathon. The Moroccan athlete has been provisionally suspended from competition after testing positive for performance-enhancing EPO. Photograph: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Fri Aug 23 2024 - 11:51

Former Dublin Marathon winner Taoufik Allam has been provisionally suspended from competition after testing positive for performance-enhancing EPO.

The 35-year-old won the 2022 Dublin Marathon, picking up the €12,000 winner’s cheque after breaking clear at the 20-mile mark to win in a time of 2:11.30, almost two and a half minutes ahead of Ethiopia’s Ashenafi Boja in 2:13.58. Birhanu Teshome of Ethiopia came home third in 2:14:25.

Allam was running in just his second marathon in Dublin and improved his debut time by over two minutes. He has since run almost four minutes faster, winning the 2023 Rome Marathon in a time of 2:07.43 in March of that year. He also won this year’s Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands back in April.

The 2022 staging of the Dublin Marathon was the first in three years after Covid saw both the 2020 and 2021 races being held virtually.

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The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced on Thursday that Allam has been provisionally suspended “for the presence/use of a prohibited substance (EPO)”.

Allam is entitled to contest the charge and request to have his B sample tested.

The AIU have also provisionally suspended Ukrainian runner Nataliya Lehonkova for EPO use. The now 41-year-old won the Dublin Marathon twice, in 2015 and 2017. She also won the 2013 Belfast Marathon.