2023 NCAA champion Kensey McMahon banned for four years for positive doping test

Former NCAA champion and World Championship medalist Kensey McMahon was banned for four years by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after testing positive for a banned substance in 2023.

McMahon, 24, tested positive for vadadustat during an in-competition test at the 2023 U.S. National Championships last July. She and USADA mutually agreed to postpone the arbitration hearing while she remained provisionally suspended to give her an opportunity to investigate the cause of the positive test.

The hearing took place on May 2, 2024, where an arbitrator ruled that McMahon would receive the four-year suspension.

Vadadustat is described by USADA as an “unspecified substance in the category of peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances and mimetics” and is banned under the doping control rules of USADA, the U.S. Olympic Committee and the World Aquatics Association.

Vadadustat is sold under the brand name Vafseo and is used as a drug to treat symptomatic anemia associated with chronic kidney disease. It was approved for medical use in the European Union in April 2023 and in the United States in March 2024.

McMahon did not provide any information about what she had found out about the source of the test, but confirmed the suspension in a post on Instagram.

In September 2023, two months after the positive test, McMahon told SwimSwam that she had put swimming “on hold,” but declined to elaborate on the reasons.

“My plan after graduation was to continue in sports, but sometimes plans don’t work out the way you imagine,” she said at the time. “Swimming is on hold and I’m pursuing other opportunities.”

McMahon’s positive test came in the middle of the most successful run of her career.

When she tested positive at U.S. Nationals, she finished 3rd in the women’s 1500 freestyle (16:07.78) and 6th in the 800 freestyle (8:25.97), both personal bests, and also finished 8th in the 400 freestyle.

All of McMahon’s results from July 1, 2023 onwards were disqualified, including the 1500m freestyle at Nationals, which took place on that exact date. Her swimming performances in the 400m and 800m freestyle were both achieved earlier in the competition (June 27-July 1).

McMahon completed her college eligibility at Alabama in March 2023 with the best year of her career, winning the NCAA titles in the women’s 500 freestyle (4:36.62) and 1650 freestyle (15:43.84), while also capturing the SEC mile title for the second time.

Even if McMahon had tested positive before the end of the NCAA season, her college results would not have been disqualified because the NCAA is not a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency.

She also made her breakthrough in meter swimming in the middle of her final NCAA season, winning bronze in the women’s 1500m freestyle at the 2022 Short Course World Championships, representing the United States.

The Jacksonville, Florida, native was named to the 2023 national open water team and has represented the United States in open water competitions internationally on several occasions, including placing 10th in the women’s 25k at the 2022 World Championships.

Over the course of her college career, McMahon was named an All-American nine times and finished in the top eight in the 1650 freestyle in all four NCAA appearances. At the conference level, she won the SEC title in the 1650 freestyle in 2020, which added to her 2023 title, and never missed the podium in five championship appearances, also placing 3rd in 2019 and 2nd in 2021 and 2022.