Imogen Simmonds Cleared: Inside the ITA’s “No Fault” Ruling on Her Positive Drug Test
Swiss triathlete Imogen Simmonds — third at the 2023 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Lahti and PTO World #13 at the time — has been formally cleared of an anti-doping rule violation after the International Testing Agency (ITA) accepted a rare “No Fault or Negligence” finding.
What Happened
An out-of-competition sample collected on 8 December 2024 returned a positive test for LGD-4033 (Ligandrol), a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) classed as a prohibited anabolic agent under the World Anti-Doping Code. Simmonds’s defence was that she had been exposed to the substance through intimate contact with her partner, who was taking a Ligandrol-containing supplement without her knowledge. Her team submitted comparative hair testing as evidence — hers negative for the substance, his positive — supporting the contamination account.
The Ruling
The ITA, which handles results management and investigations for IRONMAN, accepted the evidence in full and issued a “No Fault or Negligence” finding on 24 October 2025 — a stricter and much rarer standard than the more commonly seen “No Significant Fault,” which still carries a reduced suspension. A genuine No Fault finding clears the athlete entirely: no period of ineligibility, and an immediate return to competition. The process ran roughly nine months from the positive sample to resolution.
What It Means
Simmonds faced no suspension at any point beyond the case’s resolution and is free to return to racing without restriction. The case is a reminder that contamination defences under the WADA Code require substantial evidence — the comparative hair testing was central to the ITA accepting the account rather than defaulting to a reduced-but-real ban.
