University of Georgia sprinter Adaejah Hodge received a two-year ban for testing positive for a prohibited substance, but her sentence was shortened by seven months after she provided substantial assistance to anti-doping authorities.

The news comes just days after Hodge led the Georgia Bulldogs to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships team title by contributing major points with a runner-up finish in the 60m and a win in the 200m. She won the 200m in 22.21, which moved her to No. 4 on the all-time collegiate list and No. 6 on the all-time world list.

Here’s what you need to know:

Hodge, who competed for the British Virgin Islands at the 2024 Paris Olympics, tested positive for metabolites of GW501516, a banned metabolic modulator, at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima in August 2024. She was notified of the violation in November 2024 and immediately cooperated with investigators.

How The Investigation Unfolded: The AIU waited several months before formally notifying Hodge, doing so in person in Georgia on November 22, 2024. At that meeting, she was informed of potential violations under both Rule 2.1 (presence of a prohibited substance) and Rule 2.2 (use of a prohibited substance) of the 2024 World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules and was placed under an immediate provisional suspension. Rather than deflect, Hodge sat down with AIU representatives on the spot and offered an explanation for the positive test.

The process didn't stop there. Hodge subsequently submitted additional documentation to support her account and attended a second formal interview with AIU investigators on January 17, 2025, which signaled a sustained effort to cooperate with the probe rather than simply contest the findings.

The deal that was reached: After months of back-and-forth, Hodge, the AIU, and WADA reached a Case Resolution Agreement, which is a negotiated settlement mechanism under Rule 10.8.2 of the Anti-Doping Rules that allows all parties to avoid a full hearing. Under its terms:

– Hodge acknowledged committing anti-doping rule violations.

– All three parties agreed, on the balance of probabilities, that she ingested GW501516 unknowingly, a significant finding that shifts the case from deliberate cheating to contamination or negligence.

– The violations were formally deemed non-intentional

– She accepted a two-year period of ineligibility, which is the standard sanction for non-intentional violations involving non-specified substances

The suspension reduction: The most consequential part of the agreement was a seven-month reduction to Hodge's ban, granted under Rule 10.7.1 for providing "Substantial Assistance."

The two-year ban formally runs from August 28, 2024 through August 27, 2026

But with the seven-month reduction factored in, Hodge was cleared to compete again as of January 28, 2026.

That means her effective competitive ban lasted roughly 17 months.

In addition to the ban, all of Hodge's competitive results between August 28 and November 22, 2024 — the window between her positive test and her provisional suspension — were disqualified. Any medals, ranking points, or prize money earned during that period must be forfeited.

As a result of this, she will be stripped of her gold medal in the 200m and her silver medal in the 100m from the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru.

Revised results from the 2024 World U20 Championships:

100m

1 – 🇯🇲 Alana Reid, 11.17

2 – 🇧🇧 Kishawna Niles, 11.37

3 – 🇬🇧 Nia Wedderburn-Goodison, 11.46

4 – 🇿🇦 Viwe Jingqi, 11.57

5 – 🇩🇪 Chelsea Kadiri, 11.58

6 – 🇳🇬 Tiana Eyakpobeyan, 11.63

7 – 🇦🇺 Aleksandra Stoilova, 11.64

200m

1 – 🇦🇺 Torrie Lewis, 22.88

2 – 🇯🇲 Shanoya Douglas, 23.10

3 – 🇦🇺 Jessica Milat, 23.21

4 – 🇺🇸 Taylor Snaer, 23.31

5 – 🇬🇧 Renee Regis, 23.38

6 – 🇨🇳 Liu Yinglan, 23.39

7 – 🇺🇸 Elise Cooper, 23.40

Additional Context

– Hodge rose to prominence as a high school star at Montverde Academy in Clermont, Florida. In March 2023, she ran 22.33 to break the high school indoor 200m record. Her teammate, Issam Asinga, who set the U-20 world record in the 100m in 2023, tested positive for GW1516 in July 2023. He claimed that the positive test stemmed from ingesting contaminated Gatorade gummies. He was handed a four-year ban in May 2024 and stripped of his 9.89 record. Asinga filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but his ban was upheld. The ban is set to expire in August 2027.

– Hodge and Asinga were coached at Montverde Academy by Gerald Phiri, a two-time Olympic sprinter for Zambia. He was provisionally suspended by the AIU for multiple anti-doping rules violations, including possession of the banned metabolic modulator GW1516 as an athlete in 2018 and 2019; possession of another banned metabolic modulator, meldonium, as a coach in 2024; and for “failing to co-operate with the investigation by providing false and inaccurate information.” Three of Phiri’s athletes tested positive for metabolites of GW1516 between July 2023 and August 2024. Asinga was the first publicly announced. Hodge is now the second.

– Two months ago, Jamaica’s TVJ Sports reported that the World Anti-Doping Agency filed an appeal with CAS, challenging a ruling handed down by Jamaica’s Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel against junior athlete Skyler Franklin. TVJ Sports reported that Franklin tested positive for GW1516 at the 2024 JAAA National Junior and Senior Championships and received a public reprimand before being disqualified from the meet. Franklin, like Hodge, did not compete at all in 2025. She is now competing at LSU. The AIU has not announced any sanctions for Franklin.