Japanese walking star Koki Ikeda claims his innocence after being suspended while being investigated for a suspected doping offense.
"For reasons that I know absolutely nothing about, I may not be able to compete in my next race, and I am completely perplexed", he says in a statement.
Ikeda also says that he will fight to uncover the truth.
It is the International Athletics Federation's anti-doping organization (AIU) that suspended Ikeda on Friday, after discovering irregularities in the Japanese athlete's biological passport.
Koki Ikeda took silver in both the 2021 Olympic Games and the 2022 World Championship. Swedish athlete Perseus Karlström, who took bronze behind Ikeda in the World Championship, commented on the suspension to Aftonbladet.
He is one of the biggest in the sport. And just that it's about Japan, which is a major nation. That makes it a huge shock. It doesn't feel good at all, said Karlström to the newspaper.
