25-year-old Stevens has been noted for three misses in his stay reporting in 2019 in Oregon and West Hollywood. The punishment has been handed out by the Athletics Integrity Unit, AIU, which is the International Athletics Federation's control and punishment body for, among other things, doping-related incidents.

The penalty period is calculated retroactively to 17 February 2020 and expires just in time for the Olympic Games in Tokyo to be completed in early August 2021.

Stevens cites problems with his cell phone as the cause of two of the misses. On the first occasion, the battery ran out on her mobile phone and she could not report and on the second occasion she had changed her number to avoid harassment from an unknown person, writes AP.

Several high-profile cases regarding stay reporting

The verdict can be appealed to the international arbitral tribunal Cas in Lausanne.

Stevens won the US 200m Championships in 2017 and was fifth in the World Cup final in London the same year. In 2016, she finished seventh in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Deajah Stevens is just one in a line of top athletes who have broken the doping regulations after failing in the stay reporting. The world champion in the 100 meters, Christian Coleman is currently being investigated, as is the world record holder in the 400 meters, Salwa Eid Naser. The Swede Meraf Bahta was suspended for one year 2018-2019 for the same violation.