Germany’s Owen Ansah wins European 200m gold after anti-doping investigation

German sprinter Owen Ansah, who is under investigation by his country’s national anti-doping agency, won his second medal of the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England on Friday with an 19.95s run for 200m gold.

Running with a big tailwind (+3.5m/s), Ansah was third at halfway (10.40s) but closed better than the rest of the field to win by some margin ahead of Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes (silver in 20.16s) and Italian Eseosa Fostine Desalu (bronze, 20.26s).

The 25-year-old adds that to his 100m bronze from Tuesday, when he finished in 10.19s behind British pair Romell Glave (10.09s, gold) and Jeremiah Azu (10.16s, silver).

NADA, the German anti-doping agency, announced last Friday that they had sent a “letter of charge” to Ansah regarding an alleged violation of rule 2.3 of their national code, for which they want a four-year suspension. This concerned an out-of-competition drugs test on July 9th, the day before he raced 100m at the Monaco Diamond League.

NADA commenced “proceedings” against him, the organisation wrote in a press release published last Friday, declaring “refusal or failure to submit to sample collection,” as per rule 2.3. This did not include any mandatory suspension or ban, permitting him to compete at the European Championships.

Ansah “will not accept” the proposed sanction, his lawyer Dr Rainer Tarek Cherkeh told The Athletic in a statement. “Our client has at no point refused to undergo a doping test,” Dr Cherkeh said. “He has at no point refused to provide a sample. And he has at no point said, or given the impression, that he did not wish to undergo a doping test.”

In an interview with German website sport1, Ansah says that an anti-doping officer arrived at his house as he was leaving for the airport to go to Monaco. He says he could not immediately provide a urine sample, having recently used the bathroom, and was not informed of the consequences of not providing a sample.

In the NADA code, evasion is defined as “refusal or failure, without compelling reason, to submit to sampling after being duly notified by a duly authorized person.” Negligent behaviour, such as not being in their stated location as per whereabouts policy (athletes must give a one-hour window each day for random testing) is considered just as wrong as deliberate evasion.

NADA, Ansah’s athlete representative, and the German athletics federation have all been approached by The Athletic for comment.

NADA says that in the event of a suspension, all results since July 9 would be annulled, which would include forfeiting his two European medals, plus the German 100m and 200m national titles that he won at the end of July. Any prize money would have to be given back as well. Ansah told sport1 he was tested in Monaco on the day of his 100m race (July 10th) by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and again by NADA three days later.

The ban proposed by NADA is four years, a standard length for an anti-doping violation, though it would reduce that to three if Ansah accepts wrongdoing, which would run beyond the next Olympic Games in 2028 but could leave him eligible for the 2029 World Championships. This would only commence once a final decision is made (by NADA or another body) or an admission of guilt is given.

Ansah, as per stipulations, has 20 days following receipt of the charge letter to accept it or ask for disciplinary proceedings to start, which would involve taking the course to the German Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Ansah, a nine-time German champion, competed at the World Championships in Tokyo last September, and the 2024 Paris Olympics. He did not qualify from his heats at either, but has enjoyed a breakout season in 2026 with personal bests over 60m (6.55s) and 200m (20.04s), the latter putting him inside the top 30 men for half a lap this year. In early June he became the first German man to break 10 seconds for 100m in wind-legal conditions with a 9.98s run in Bavaria.

He is not expected to compete in the relay finals this weekend — the men’s 4x100m and the mixed 4x100m — because any ban would mean the entire relay team losing their medals.