Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak withdraws from World Championships 2025: here’s why

TORONTO: Canadian Olympic swimming champion Penny Oleksiak on Saturday withdrew from the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore due to an ongoing Whereabouts case related to anti-doping protocols.

The announcement was made jointly by Oleksiak and Swimming Canada. In a statement shared on Instagram, Oleksiak clarified that the case is still in the preliminary stages and emphasised that it does not involve any banned substances.

“This whereabouts case does not involve any banned substance; it’s about whether I updated my information correctly. I am and always have been a clean athlete,” she wrote.

Swimming Canada echoed Oleksiak’s statement in a post on X formerly Twitter, adding, “we support her decision and believe she is a clean athlete who made an administrative mistake.”

A whereabouts case referred to violations under anti-doping rules concerning an athlete's failure to accurately report their location for drug testing purposes.

According to the World Anti-Doping Code, a violation can occur from any combination of three missed tests or filing failures within 12 months, even if no banned substance is detected.

Athletes in the registered testing pool, the highest tier for drug testing, are required to provide up-to-date location information at all times, allowing testers to conduct random, unannounced checks.

Filing failures can occur if the information provided is late, inaccurate or incomplete, while missed tests are recorded if an athlete is unavailable for testing during a designated one-hour time slot.

A combination of three such infractions within a year can result in up to a two-year ban.