The 29-year-old athlete was suspended on the grounds of doping despite meeting the Therapeutic Exemption Criteria. The presence of a metabolite of Letrozole was found.
The two-time world champion and Olympic medalist underwent a surprise test on December 5th of last year, which returned positive for a metabolite of Letrozole. She was sanctioned under Rule 2.1 of the Anti-Doping Rules (ADR). She was notified of the potential ADRV by the Athletics Integrity Unit on January 26, 2026. Tsegay responded by saying that she had been prescribed Letrozole to treat a diagnosed medical condition and produced evidence to support it.
Later, on February 17 she applied for Therapeutic Use Exemption Criteria to the World Athletics Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee (WATUEC), which confirmed her treatment met the requirements of Article 4.2 of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions (ISTUE).
The reason the ban was issued is that she failed to notify WADA in advance. Her period of ineligibility will run from June 1st to 30th of September, 2026. The period remains short due to her admitting it quickly and there was no evidence of her trying to gain any unfair advantage.
