Cyclocross racer Katie Compton, a four-time vice world champion, has ended her career. The 42-year-old American did so after a positive doping test, which led to a four-year suspension. “I’m innocent,” Compton said, “but I can’t prove it.”
Compton tested positive for anabolic steroids in September. “It wasn’t until early February that I was told that a steroid was found in the analysis of the same sample,” Compton said. “I hired a lawyer and tried to figure out how the substance got into my body, but because there was five months between sample collection and the report, that proved impossible, so I decided to stop doing this expensive and difficult thing to fight and accept the punishment.”
Compton is the most successful cyclocross racer in her country. From 2004 to 2018, she won the United States Championship fifteen times in a row. She was on the podium five times at the World Championships. She has won more than 130 cycling races.
Before starting as a cyclo-cross rider, Compton won two gold, silver, and bronze medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. She did so in tandem, as blind pilot Carissa Witsel.
