Kenya's Kalalei gets four-year doping ban

FILE PHOTO - Athletics - Athens Marathon - Athens, Greece - November 12, 2017 - Kenyan Samuel Kalalei reacts while finishing first in the Athens Marathon Men's race. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

(Reuters) - Kenyan marathon runner Samuel Kalalei, who won the Athens marathon last November, has been banned for four years after testing positive for blood-booster EPO, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has said.

Kalalei's urine sample, which was collected after the Rotterdam Marathon in April, had returned positive for EPO. The 23-year-old was provisionally suspended by AIU, the independent agency of world athletics ruling body IAAF, on June 4.