“When he chose not to contest in a public hearing the overwhelming evidence of his cheating Mr. Armstrong was well aware that he was accepting ineligibility from world-class athletic events like the Chicago Marathon,” a USADA spokeswoman said in a statement. -Photo by AP

Lance Armstrong has been banned from running in next month's Chicago Marathon, a spokesman for the suspended American cyclist said on Friday.

“Lance was going to be running as a fundraising team member of Team Livestrong at Chicago,” Mark Higgins said in an email to Reuters.

“One of the Lance Armstrong Foundation staffers had communicated that to the race organisers and she was told he could not run.”

Armstrong was stripped of his record seven Tour de France wins last month and handed a lifetime ban by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after indicating that would not challenge charges that he had doped throughout his career.

Armstrong, whose Livestrong Foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in the fight against cancer, has always denied doping.

“When he chose not to contest in a public hearing the overwhelming evidence of his cheating Mr. Armstrong was well aware that he was accepting ineligibility from world-class athletic events like the Chicago Marathon,” a USADA spokeswoman said in a statement.

“This is what the world rules require for all sanctioned athletes, high profile or not.”

A marathon spokeswoman said Armstrong had not submitted a formal registration to participate in the Oct. 7 marathon, but that the race follows rules that prohibit banned athletes from entering races sanctioned by USA Track & Field.

Opinion

Editorial

Sustainable path?
13 Jun, 2026

Sustainable path?

THE FY27 budget is the first clear signal that the government is ready to transition from stabilisation to growth ...
Prioritising education
13 Jun, 2026

Prioritising education

THOUGH the improvement in the country’s literacy rate may be slight, as highlighted by the Economic Survey, it ...
Poverty’s rise
13 Jun, 2026

Poverty’s rise

AS attention turns to the government’s plans for the coming fiscal year, one set of figures deserves particular...
A difficult story
Updated 12 Jun, 2026

A difficult story

Unless productivity becomes the dominant target of economic policy, Pakistan will continue to oscillate between crises and fragile recovery.
Rough waters
12 Jun, 2026

Rough waters

AMONGST the key potential triggers for fresh conflict in South Asia is water. The Indian state is behaving in an...
Politicised football
12 Jun, 2026

Politicised football

ALMOST three-and-half years since Lionel Messi led Argentina to FIFA World Cup glory, the latest edition of...