On June 9, 2026, the Chinese Athletics Association issued a notice confirming the final decision on additional sanctions for rule-breaking participants in road races during the first half of 2026.
The announcement is as follows:
In the first half of 2026, a small number of participants in certain marathon and 10 km races engaged in violations such as transferring bibs to others and competing with forged bibs, undermining the fairness and integrity of competitions, creating safety risks, and causing negative social impact.Based on reports from relevant race organizer representatives, reports from race organizing committees and verification results, and in accordance with Article 5, Paragraph 1 of the "Chinese Athletics Association Road Race Discipline Management Regulations," the Chinese Athletics Association, after review, has decided to impose additional sanctions on more than 50 violators across the following 16 events: the implicated individuals are barred, from the date of this notification, from participating in any events listed in the "National Marathon Event Directory" for a period of three years.As some leads on race violations remain under investigation, the penalties listed in this notification do not cover every case. The Chinese Athletics Association will continue to investigate and handle each discovered case and will impose additional sanctions, according to regulations, on any persons subsequently verified to have committed violations.The Association urges all runners to take this as a warning, resolutely resist all forms of misconduct, comply with race regulations and codes of conduct, and together safeguard a fair competitive environment and foster a healthy, positive image for marathon events.Notably, this is another severe sanction following the 2025 Suzhou Marathon "urination scandal," and the number and scale of the races and participants involved is extremely large.Behind this notice there may be far-reaching implications for the future management of marathon events in China!
Images: Paoye Big Bang/ Visuals：Max
