Eugene, United States - Galen Rupp shook off the shadow of doping accusations to win his seventh consecutive 10,000m US national title on Thursday and punch his ticket to the World Championships in Beijing.
The Olympic silver medallist has endured a tumultuous month since a BBC documentary in collaboration with the ProPublica website accused his coach, Alberto Salazar, of violating anti-doping rules, with claims Salazar doped Rupp with testosterone in 2002 when Rupp was only 16.
Salazar and Rupp have both denied the accusations and on Thursday the 29-year-old Rupp showed the clouds were taking no toll on the track.
He powered into the lead with three laps remaining and pulled away to win in 28min 11.61sec -- giving a thumbs-up sign as he crossed the line with Salazar watching.
Salazar also coaches Britain's 10,000m Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
AFP
