Agency requests report in Jones’ testing
The laboratory that tested Marion Jones’ A and B samples is expected to report to the World Anti-Doping Agency within two weeks on why the results did not match.
David Howman, speaking at a three-day anti-doping symposium organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations, told The Associated Press there were possible reasons why the A and B samples had not matched.
He said the sample may have deteriorated or the banned substance may have faded from the sample between the time it was tested.
“With EPO there is micro-dosing and the substance only stays in the system a certain time,” said Howman, who added that there is reason to believe new types of EPO have been developed that disappear from the urine more quickly.
Howman also raised the possibility of sample manipulation.
“Powders can be slipped into the sample, powders that can have a corrosive effect over time,” Howman said. “You have to remember that there is more testing nowadays, and also cheaters are finding new ways to ensure the B sample does not match the A sample.”
Jones tested positive for EPO on June 23 at the U.S. track and field championships in Indianapolis, where she won the 100 meters for a 14th national title. She immediately requested a B sample be tested, which was negative.
•Scott Jurek of the United States won the Spartathlon on Saturday, a 152-mile race from Athens to Sparta that follows the route of the legendary messenger Pheidippides 2,500 years ago.
Japan’s Inagaki Sumie was the top woman in the ultramarathon featuring 260 runners from 32 countries and a winding course along highways, dirt roads and mountains.
Jurek, of Seattle, completed the annual race in 22 hours, 52 minutes, 18 seconds.
Inagaki Sumie won her division in 28:37:20.
The Spartathlon is about 5 miles short of six consecutive marathons. Horse racing
No Foul for Ball Four
Ball Four survived a foul claim and won the $350,000 Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.
With Willie Martinez aboard, Ball Four went right to the front and led all the way, outfinishing Perfect Drift, ridden by Leparoux, at the wire.
Kent Desormeaux, the jockey on favorite Premium Tap, filed a claim of foul after trying to make a move inside Ball Four and then taking up sharply at the top of the turn. But the stewards found insufficient evidence that Ball Four interfered with Premium Tap.
•Cash Included upset Point Ashley, the nation’s top-ranked contender in the Juvenile Fillies division, to win the $250,000 Oak Leaf Stakes, in Arcadia, Calif., by 4 3/4 lengths.
Cash Included covered the distance in 1:42.86 and paid $29.40, $7 and $5.80.
Point Ashley returned $2.60 and $2.60 as the wagering favorite, while Quick Little Miss was 2 1/4 lengths back in third and paid $7.40 to show.
Speed Skating
Davis earns spot
Shani Davis won the 1,000- and 3,000-meter races in short track speedskating in West Allis, Wis., securing a spot on the World Cup team that will compete in Changchun, China, Oct. 20-22.