Salazar casts shadow as runners digest ban

Alberto Salazar is banned but the disgraced coach continues to cast a shadow over the World Championships.

Four days after the head of the Nike-backed Oregon Project was suspended for doping offences, runners linked to the Cuban-born coach were still digesting the news which sent shockwaves across track and field.

Ethiopia-born Dutch runner Sifan Hassan, the winner of the 10,000 metres, who is coached by Salazar, chose not to speak to reporters after winning her 1,500m semi-final in 4min 14.69 secs.

Reigning Olympic 1,500m champion Matthew Centrowitz, who split with Salazar in 2018, also declined to comment after finishing third in his heat to reach the semi-finals.

"I'll speak after the championships, but right now my focus is the competition," Centrowitz said.

Oregon Project runner Craig Engels was more forthright, however, after advancing from his 1,500m heat to the semi-finals.

Engels, who is coached by the Oregon Project's Pete Julian, said he had never seen anything suspicious in his two years with the Portland-based outfit.

"No, not at all," Engels said when asked if anything had ever given him cause for concern.

"I remember telling my college coach, 'If anything ever happens, then I'll be the guy that says it,'" he added.

"I thought I'd give it a year and see if I did well, and if I didn't and there was stuff going on, I would leave the group and report it. But literally, absolutely nothing has been offered to me, or pressured on me, nothing."
- Maximum impact -
==================