KINGSTON, Jamaica – British Virgin Islands (BVI) star sprinter Adaejah Hodge has been stripped of her gold and silver medals from the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in 2024 after testing positive for two banned substances at the event.
On Monday, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced that the 19-year-old Hodge, a student at the University of Georgia, served a two-year ban, backdated to August 30, 2024, after she tested positive for prohibited substances (GW501516 sulfone/sulfoxide).
Notably, the AIU and all parties agreed that the athlete’s ingestion was unintentional.
Due to her cooperation, seven months of her suspension were waived, making her eligible to return on January 28, 2026.
As a result, her World Junior Championship medals from 2024 have been disqualified.
It means that Jamaica’s teenage sprinting star Shanoya Douglas is in line to have the bronze medal she won in the 200 metres at the Championships upgraded to silver.
Douglas clocked 23.10 seconds to finish third in the event on August 20, 2024, in Lima, Peru, behind Hodge (22.74 seconds) and Australia’s Torrie Lewis, who was second in 22.88 seconds. Another Australian, Jessica Milat, finished fourth.
It also means that Barbadian Kishawna Niles, who finished third in the 100m behind Hodge, will be awarded the silver medal.
The news comes just days after Hodge led the Georgia Bulldogs to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships team title by contributing major points with a runner-up finish in the 60m and a win in the 200m.
She won the 200m in 22.21 seconds, which moved her to number four on the all-time collegiate list and number six on the all-time world list.
Hodge won the coveted Austin Sealy Award at the 2022 CARIFTA Games held in Kingston, Jamaica, as an Under-17 athlete.
CMC
