Mariana Bernal, the world champion archer from Mexico, has received a three-year ban from the International Testing Agency (ITA) after testing positive for an anabolic steroid. The ban, announced Thursday, will keep the 23-year-old athlete out of competition until after the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Bernal tested positive for nandrolone in an out-of-competition test conducted in September of last year. The ITA stated that Bernal did not contest the doping violation. As a result of the positive test, she has also been stripped of her 2025 World Cup Finals title.
The ITA reduced Bernal's suspension by one year from a standard four-year ban, citing her early admission of the offense. Her results have been voided from the date of the sample collection.
Three weeks prior to the positive test, Bernal had helped Mexico secure a team gold medal in the women's compound event at the world championships in Gwangju, South Korea, defeating the United States in the final. While she retains her world title, her victory at the World Cup Finals in Nanjing, China, last October, where she competed against teammate and individual world champion Andrea Becerra, has been nullified.