On Feb. 15 JADA announced that Soka University 3rd-year Leakaey Kamina of Kenya has been given a 3-year suspension for a doping violation. His period of suspension will date from Oct. 12, 2023, the day he was notified of the test result, and competition results including his performance at the Oct. 9 Izumo Ekiden have been annulled. As a result, Soka will lose its best-ever 2nd-place team result at Izumo, with 3rd-place Josai University and below being elevated one position.
According to JADA, Kamina was tested after winning the National University Track and Field Championships 5000 m on Sept. 16, and his urine sample was found to contain the steroid nandrolone. That performance has also been annulled.
A Soka University spokesperson said that Kamina had been back in Kenya from late July until early September immediately before the National University Championships. Kamina told them that he got sick while there and asked a friend to buy medicine for him. He said that he took the medicine for ten days without checking what was in it, and told the team, "I feel remorse and regret."
Head coach Kazutaka Enoki commented, "Even though I was already back in Japan, I apologize for my lack of leadership and supervision regarding medications." Soka University said that it will take strong measures against an incident like this happening again, including translating anti-doping materials into the native languages of international students, and holding anti-doping seminars for all student athletes twice a year.
Translator's note: This is a first in the university men's ekiden circuit. Having been notified on Oct. 12, Kamina didn't compete for Soka at either November's National University Ekiden, where it was 6th, or January's Hakone Ekiden, where it placed 8th.
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