{"id":309532,"date":"2023-06-18T21:10:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-18T21:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=309532"},"modified":"2023-06-19T00:00:04","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T00:00:04","slug":"i-missed-it-bol-makes-comeback-from-drug-test-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=309532","title":{"rendered":"'I missed it': Bol makes comeback from drug test drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

P\ufeffeter Bol<\/a> has spoken of feeling "back home" after he reignited his career at a low-key meet in France on Monday morning (AEST), finishing fourth and clocking 1:45.81 as he contested his first race since the lifting of his provisional suspension<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Four months after the Australian 800-metre champion was cleared to resume racing after falsely testing positive to erythropoietin (EPO)<\/a>\ufeff, a performance-enhancing drug that boosts the production of red blood cells, he made his comeback at Meeting Stanislas Nancy.<\/p>\n

"It was calm and peaceful to be back on the track. It was nice. I missed it," Bol told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Sizzling Aussie spurt in grim conditions rocks England<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Claims of obscene language after wild Ashes send-off\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Recalled England spinner slapped with fine for breach<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"I was a little bit nervous because I usually like to start my season in \ufeffAustralia and I know exactly where I'm at when I get to Europe. It was just kind of getting chucked in the deep water.<\/p>\n

"But I knew my shape, I trained well in Flagstaff and I'm in good shape mentally, so I knew the physical part would take care of itself.<\/p>\n

"I was a bit nervous warming up and then\ufeff as soon as I got on the start line it just felt familiar and it felt like I was back home. I was ready to go."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bol was placed sixth at the bell and made a smooth move into the lead on the back straight, but the Tokyo Olympian faded over the final 50 metres as a lack of race fitness caught up on him.<\/p>\n

That's understandable given the 29-year-old had not raced since the Commonwealth Games in August.\ufeff<\/p>\n

He withdrew from four races across May and June due to an injury hampering his groin and stomach.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"It was the normal move I make," Bol said of his move on the back straight.<\/p>\n

"You put yourself in a position to win regardless. I thought I could hold it for the last 100 metres but I just fell a bit short … It was just race fitness and I'll get that in the next race.<\/p>\n

"It'll be a lot faster and then when I'm race fit it'll be fun again. You're just running back-to-back and being relaxed, looking around … It'll all come through."<\/p>\n

The time Bol registered, 1:45.81, is almost two seconds slower than his personal best of 1:44.00, which has stood as the Australian men's record since June last year.<\/p>\n

But he's a hot tip to nail the world championships standard of 1:44.70 over the next month as he eyes Budapest.<\/p>\n

\"Bol's<\/p>\n

He will continue his season in Pfungstadt, Germany on June 22 (AEST), before racing in Ostrava, Czech Republic on June 28 and Lyonnais, France on July 9.<\/p>\n

"I had lactic (acid)\ufeff as I was finishing, but to be honest it's the first race of the season that I didn't throw up after," Bol admitted of his comeback.<\/p>\n

"I usually throw up after the first race of the season, so I guess it's good signs (that I didn't).<\/p>\n

"I've obviously been battling some injuries this year, so there's absolutely no excuses.<\/p>\n

"I'm just late in my preparation.<\/p>\n

"But at the same time, the world championships aren't \ufefftoday, world championships aren't next week; it's in August."<\/p>\n

Bol was suspended on January 20 but his ban was dropped on February 14 after his B sample returned an atypical finding, meaning it was neither positive nor negative.<\/p>\n

\"Seebohm:<\/p>\n

Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) claims its investigation into Bol remains ongoing because his B sample only produced an atypical finding, but a bombshell was dropped when two independent laboratories revealed in March that by their testing his A sample and B sample should have both been deemed negative<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bol's US-based lawyer, Paul Greene, delivered a letter to SIA insisting the governing body was "completely wrong" about the star runner and demanding its apparent investigation, which he called a "sham", must "publicly end".<\/p>\n

Greene also said the testers had made a "blunder of epic proportions".<\/p>\n

Wide World of Sports contacted SIA regarding its coverage of the independent testing but the governing body declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Bol finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics<\/a> and secured silver at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.\ufeff<\/p>\n

He twice broke the Australian men's 800-metre record\ufeff at the Tokyo Olympics, before again lowering the mark at the 2022 Paris Diamond League.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

P\ufeffeter Bol has spoken of feeling "back home" after he reignited his career at a low-key meet in France on Monday morning (AEST), finishing fourth […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":309534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=309532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309538,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309532\/revisions\/309538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/309534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=309532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=309532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=309532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}