Doping: Better to be Rich and Guilty than Poor and Innocent

The Sinner case shows once again that antidoping regulation at the elite level of sport is now just as much a product of lawyer’s argument than of athlete sampling.

The three months recently agreed between the world number one Jannick Sinner’s legal team and WADA for his antidoping violations is therefore, technically and figuratively, light. Pic: Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP

The word “incredible” has two meanings. Originally, it meant beyond belief or difficult to believe; today, it is often used as a synonym for amazing or extraordinary. The latter is definitely apt to describe Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo who, last weekend in Barcelona, set a new world best in the half-marathon of 56 minutes 42 seconds. Yes: the temperature was ideal; there was no wind; the course was flat; he was wearing Nike Alphafly Three shoes; and pacemakers were used to good effect, but it was still, well, incredible.

Kiplimo broke the existing record by 48 seconds – the biggest single improvement on the men’s world half marathon record in history. He set a world best for 15km along the way as he averaged 2:41 per kilometre.