Sprinter Christian Coleman to face anti-doping hearing

The fastest man in the world is facing scrutiny after being charged with a potential doping violation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

Christian Coleman, the current US 100 meters champion, "failed to properly file his whereabouts information" on three occasions, according to a USADA statement to Reuters news agency on Saturday.

The British Guardian reported on Friday that Coleman had missed three drug tests, though he is contesting one of these decisions.

For his part, the US sprinter had dismissed the media reports as "simply not true."

"I'm not a guy who takes any supplements at all, so I'm never concerned about taking drug tests, at any time," Coleman said in a statement.

Athletes have to file their whereabouts so that authorities can test them without notice outside competition.

Three such "whereabouts failures" in a 12-month period can be treated as an anti-doping rule violation, which carries a potential two-year ban. This could mean that Coleman might miss next month's World Athletics Championships in Doha and next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Coleman has been called to appear at a hearing on September 4 to persuade the USADA that there were extenuating circumstances, and the authority has said it will fast-track his case and make its decision by September 5.

"I am confident the upcoming hearing on September 4 will clear the matter and I will compete at the world championships in Doha this fall," Coleman's statement said.

"Sometime after the hearing, I will be free to answer questions about the matter, but for now I must reserve and respect the process."

The US sprinter has this year's fastest time in the world over 100 meters (9.81 seconds) and would be a strong gold medal favorite at the world championships.

bk/msh (Reuters, AP)