Jonah Koech Stripped of US 1,500m Title, Handed Three-Year Ban for Blood Doping

Last year’s U.S. 1,500-meter champion Jonah Koech has been stripped of his title and handed a three-year ban after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) found abnormalities in his blood profile consistent with blood doping.

The 29-year-old Kenyan-born athlete was sanctioned based on findings from his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), which monitors an athlete’s blood biomarkers over time. The system establishes baseline biological data and compares subsequent samples to identify unusual changes that could indicate prohibited doping practices.

USADA said the abnormal samples from Koech were collected during the 2025 U.S. national championships, where he won the 1,500m title in a personal-best 3 minutes, 30.17 seconds. He subsequently competed for the United States at the World Championships, finishing 13th.

According to USADA, ABP blood-marker testing, in use since 2009, can detect blood-doping methods such as blood transfusions and the use of blood-boosting drugs including erythropoietin (EPO).

Koech came to the United States for college and later became a U.S. citizen while competing with the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program.

His three-year period of ineligibility will run through July 2029, ruling him out of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. His U.S. championship result has also been removed following the anti-doping violation.

The sanction marks a significant setback for Koech, who had established himself as one of the leading U.S. middle-distance runners after winning the national 1,500m title last year.