12.9.2025
Long jump world record holder Mike Powell, who now works as a coach, has been suspended indefinitely over a safeguarding concern, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Friday.
Twice Olympic silver medalist Powell, who joined Azusa Pacific University track and field coaching staff in 2022, set the men’s long jump world record of 8.95 metres at the 1991 world championships in Tokyo, a mark that still stands.
The AIU said the 61-year-old American is barred from all World Athletics-sanctioned activities, including accreditation at World Athletics Series Events, as well as any competitions or events organised or sanctioned by World Athletics, its Area Associations or Member Federations.
Powell is also prohibited from attending hospitality or private access venues linked to World Athletics Series Events, whether invited or not. The AIU said the suspension could be varied on application or appeal.
Meanwhile two-time Olympic finalist Erriyon Knighton was banned for four years on Friday in a doping case that ruled the 21-year-old United States sprinter out of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judges upheld separate appeals by the World Anti-Doping Agency and track and field investigators, who filed after Knighton was cleared by a U.S. tribunal of testing positive to an anabolic steroid. The tribunal accepted he was contaminated by eating meat.
WADA and the Athletics Integrity Unit argued the evidence that was presented to exonerate Knighton was statistically impossible and asked for a maximum four-year ban, the court said.
Knighton is the sixth fastest man in track history over 200 meters, with a best time of 19.49 seconds. Only Noah Lyles and Michael Johnson are ahead of him among American sprinters.
Mike Powell...