Joe Skipper, Tomás Rodriguez Hernández Receive ADRV Suspensions
The International Testing Agency (ITA) has been busy on the triathlon front over the last few months, it would appear. In a decision announced earlier today, the Sport Resolutions’ International Hearing Panel (IHP) “confirmed that UK professional triathlete Joe Skipper committed an anti-doping run violation (ADRV) for three whereabouts failures within a twelve-month period and imposed a period of ineligibility of eighteen months, together with the disqualification of all results obtained since 15 May 2025.”
Skipper has been part of the IRONMAN Registered Testing Pool (RTP) since 2016, which means he had to provide whereabouts information in order to for out-of-competition testing to be done. According to today’s report: “Between 1 July 2024 and 15 May 2025, three whereabouts failures were recorded against the athlete.”
The ITA referred the matter to the hearing panel on Feb. 13, 2026, and the hearing was held on May 18, 2026 The IHP issued its decision on Aug. 17, 2026, concluding that Skipper had committed an ADRV and “imposed a period of ineligibility of eighteen months on the athlete, commencing on 18 May 2026.” All of Skipper’s competitive results since May 15, 2025 have been disqualified, which also includes forfeiture of prize money.
Earlier today Skipper went on to Instagram and posted this video in which he stated that he has never taken drugs, while acknowledging that the three missed tests were his responsibility and the result of poor management:
During his career Skipper won 10 full-distance titles including IRONMAN wins in UK (2018 and 2021), Florida (2019), New Zealand (2020), Chattanooga (2021), Wales (2022), Arizona (2022), Lake Placid (2023), along with a win at Challenge Almere in 2017, the same year it served as the European Long Distance Championships and Challenge Weymouth in 2014. Skipper announced in July that he would be retiring from professional racing.
Rodriguez Hernández Suspended Again
A look at the ITA site also includes the above information about Tomás Rodriguez Hernández, the Mexican athlete who stunned the world with his huge win at IRONMAN Texas in 2024. Hernández tested positive for clomifene, a hormone and metabolic modulator that boosts testosterone production. He initially challenged the suspension and attributed the positive test to contamination from eggs and chicken in his diet. Eventually Rodriguez Hernández accepted the ITA’s two year suspension, which expired on June 5, 2026. That 2024 Texas title was eventually awarded to Patrick Lange.
There’s no details to go along with the latest notice (see above) of another provisional suspension, other than “violation of the prohibition of participation during ineligibility.”
The article referred to in the above notice states:
Anyone banned under the code is strictly prohibited from participating in any capacity in a competition, activity, or training camp authorized or organized by an Anti-Doping Organization (such as WADA, an International Federation, or a National Olympic Committee). This means a banned athlete cannot compete, nor can a banned coach train or assist other clean athletes.
The penalty for an offence means that the original ban period would “restart from scratch,” which would mean another two years of suspension for Rodriguez Hernández.
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Of all the athletes, Joe seems absolutely the most aloof, but still I’m not sure I can apply that level of excuse here. Once again, I wonder if my spider sense was correct that when an athlete starts skipping races, starts performing abnormally worse, I’ve wondered if there was some testing drama going on in the background that could potentially be messing with whatever protocol they have in place.
It’s a terrible way to have your career defined.
In some respects, it’s worse than the burrito excuse. “I’m not with it enough to manage this high priority exercise that could define my career, but you should absolutely sponsor me to represent your product”
Was he that aloof in his training? Nutrition? Race schedule?