On June 9, 2026, the Chinese Athletics Association issued a notice confirming the final additional sanctions for athletes who violated rules in road races in the first half of 2026.
The announcement is as follows:
In the first half of 2026, a small number of participants in some marathon and 10 km events transferred bibs to others or used forged bibs to compete, violating rules, undermining the fairness and integrity of races, creating safety risks for events, and causing negative social impact.Based on reports from event organizers and organizing committees and the results of investigations, and in accordance with Article 5, Paragraph 1 of the China Athletics Association's Regulations on Discipline Management for Road Running Events, the China Athletics Association has decided to impose additional sanctions on more than 50 violators from the following 16 races: the listed individuals are banned from participating in any events included in the National Marathon Event Directory for three years from the date of this notice.As some leads regarding race violations are still under investigation, the penalties listed in this notice do not cover all cases. The Chinese Athletics Association will continue to investigate and act on each case it uncovers, and will impose additional sanctions in accordance with regulations on any individuals later verified to have committed violations.We hope the broader running community will take this as a warning, firmly reject all forms of misconduct, comply with race regulations and codes of conduct, and together protect a fair and just competitive environment while fostering a healthy, positive image for marathon events.Notably, this is another severe sanction following the 2025 Suzhou Marathon 'pee-gate', and the number and scale of the races and participants involved are also extremely large.Behind this notice there may be far-reaching implications for the future management of marathon events in China!
Text： trail running/ Editor：David
Images：Trail Running Big Bang/ Visuals：Max
