400m record holder Oketch, two rugby players fail doping tests
Mercy Oketch during a training session at Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi on April 21, 2026.
National 400 metres champion and record holder Mercy Oketch and two rugby players, John Shiemi and Derick Ochieng, have been provisionally suspended for varying doping offences by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak).
The agency flagged down the 24-year-old Oketch, who is a private in the Kenya Defence Forces, for the presence of prohibited substances, Trimetazidine and Furosemide.
Oketch, ranked 23rd in the world in the women’s 400 metres, was served the notice of the failed doping test on October 26.
Oketch, the 2025 world mixed relay bronze medallist, represented Kenya at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland in August this year, reaching the semi-finals in 400m.
She anchored the 4x400m mixed relay team to fourth place at the Club Games.
Mercy Oketch takes a break after training at Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi on April 21, 2026
She reclaimed her Kip Keino Classic 400m title last year, smashing Moraa’s record with a blistering 50.14.
Oketch, in fact, broke the 400m national indoor record four consecutive times this year.
She made history as the second Kenyan to compete in the 400m at the World Indoor Championships this year after Esther Kavaya in 1987 in Indianapolis, USA.
Also Read: Kenyan athletes pay dearly for doping
Mwamba skipper Shiemi and Ochieng of Kisumu have both tested positive for the prohibited Cannabinoids-Carboxy found in cannabis sativa (bhang).
Adak noted that the two players had more than the permitted limit.
In a previous interview, Adak legal officer, Bildad Rogoncho, indicated that if the cannabis sativa is consumed just before matches, it would earn the athlete a straight two-year ban.
“But if they took it out-of-competition and can prove that they didn’t use it for performance enhancement, then they will get three months,” said Rogoncho. “If the players plead guilty and accept to go for rehabilitation, then they will get a one-month ban.”
Seventeen Kenyan athletes from athletics and rugby have been banned by Adak in September and October.
Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has also caught several Kenyans cheating.
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