Australia’s Torrie Lewis has been retrospectively awarded a U20 World Athletics Championships gold medal after it emerged the winner of that race had tested positive for banned substances.
The Athletics Integrity United (AIU) confirmed Adaejah Hodge had been given a two-year ban for testing positive for GW501516 sulfone and sulfoxide at the 2024 World U20 Championships in Lima, Peru.
It means Lewis, the Australian record holder in the 100m, has been upgraded to the gold medal position in the 200m in a race run more than 18 months ago.
“Maybe a bit weird to post 1.5 years later but today I got the news that I was the 1st clean runner across the line in the 200m U20 championships in 2024,” Torrie wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.
“So after the DQ of the runner who tested positive, I can happily say I am the 2024 u20 200m world champ.”
Hodge won the race in a time of 22.74sec, and Lewis ran second in a personal best of 22.88.
Fellow Australian Jessica Milat is also upgraded to a bronze medal in the 200m after coming fourth in a time of 23.21sec.
Hodge placed second in the 100m at the Under-20 World Championships, but she has been stripped of that medal as well.
Seven months of her two-year ban were suspended, and the British Virgin Islands sprinter was eligible to return to competition in January this year.
Hodge has since returned to competition, setting two national records in the 200m and winning the SEC and NCAA titles as well as bronze in the 60m for the University of Georgia, helping her college win the NCAA Championship team crown.
The AIU determined Hodge’s ingestion of the prohibited substances was unintentional, but her results prior to the positive tests have been disqualified.
The World Junior Athletics Championships have grown in stature in recent years.
Australia’s Gout Gout has chosen to focus on this year’s Under-20 event in Oregon instead of competing at the Commonwealth Games due to a scheduling clash.
Lewis, 21, broke her own national 100m record in a time of 11.08sec at last year’s world championships.
