He Jie, China’s top long-distance runner, was stripped of his first-place medal from the Mengniu Beijing Half Marathon on Friday after an investigation concluded that three other runners from Africa had purposely slowed down to let him pass. 

Organizers announced the decision after footage from the race went viral over the weekend. Video evidence from the final moments of the race showed He trailing behind Kenya’s Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat and Ethiopia’s Dejene Hailu. 

Mnangat told BBC Sport Africa that the group had not been not running competitively, but rather as pacemakers for He.  

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An investigation into the incident found that four runners had, in fact, been invited by a race sponsor to serve only as pacemakers, but the main organizers were unaware of this. The fourth had dropped out before completing the race. 

“We deeply and sincerely apologize to the world and to every part of society, that we did not discover and correct the mistakes in time at this race,” the statement read. 

He Jie of Team China celebrates after winning the Athletics – Men’s Marathon Final on day 12 of the 19th Asian Games at Smart New World Qiantang River Green Belt on October 5, 2023, in Hangzhou, in the Zhejiang Province of China.  (CHINASPORTS/VCG via Getty Images)

BEIJING HALF MARATHON UNDER INVESTIGATION AFTER VIDEO APPEARS TO SHOW COMPETITORS LET CHINESE RUNNER WIN

All four runners, including He, were disqualified and forced to return their medals and award money. 

Zhong’ao Lupao Sports Management Co, the main organizer, also lost its right to host the event as a result. 

He Jie of Team China celebrates after winning the Athletics – Men’s Marathon Final on day 12 of the 19th Asian Games at Smart New World Qiantang River Green Belt on October 5, 2023, in Hangzhou, in the Zhejiang Province of China.  (CHINASPORTS/VCG via Getty Images)

He won the Asian Games men’s marathon last year and holds the Chinese national record in the event after finishing the Wuxi Marathon with a time of two hours, six minutes and 47 seconds. He finished last weekend’s race with a time of one hour, three minutes, 44 seconds. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Their top two relievers had pitched the two previous nights, so the Dodgers had little choice but to turn to J.P. Feyereisen, a 31-year-old journeyman trying to work his way back from shoulder surgery, in the seventh inning of a tie game against the San Diego Padres on Sunday.

A walk, a single, a walk, and a Jurickson Profar three-run double later, the Padres were on their way to a 6-3 victory.

If Brusdar Graterol or Blake Treinen was available, manager Dave Roberts could have turned to one of the two veteran right-handers in that situation against the Padres. Or maybe one or both of them would have pitched in the previous two games, freeing up closer Evan Phillips or setup man Daniel Hudson to work Sunday.

But the hard-throwing Graterol, who went 4-2 with a 1.20 ERA in 68 games last season, is on the 60-day injured list because of right-shoulder inflammation and won’t be eligible to return until May 20.

And Treinen, who missed most of 2022 and all of 2023 because of shoulder injuries but appeared to be regaining his 2021 form (6-5, 1.99 ERA in 72 games) with 3 ⅔ scoreless innings in spring training, has been sidelined since a March 9 line drive bruised a lung and fractured several ribs and is not expected back until early May.

Those two injuries, combined with the early-season struggles of two right-handers who were dominant for the Dodgers in 2023, have thinned out a bullpen that was expected to be a strength but has looked a bit wobbly while cycling through 15 different relievers in the first month of 2024.

“There have been some games where we’ve given up runs late or given up some crooked numbers and not allowed our offense to come back, where if you had those two leverage guys, I think things could have been different,” Roberts said.

“The hard part is just making sure we stay the course and check all the boxes with Blake, who’s coming [back] first, and then with Brusdar, so we can get them and keep them once they get back. But their presence has certainly been missed.”

Some injuries and inconsistencies in a rotation that entered Friday night’s game against the New York Mets with a 4.15 ERA (16th in baseball) and was averaging just under 4 ⅔ innings per start has strained a bullpen that has cracked at times under the stress.

A relief corps that went 24-11 with a major league-best 2.28 ERA from June 20 through the end of last season entered Friday with a 4.13 ERA, ranked 17th in baseball. Dodgers relievers had thrown a major league-high 93 ⅔ innings, given up 13 homers, third-most in the game, and walked 32 batters, ninth-most in baseball.

“Teams don’t like to push their starters quite as much at the beginning of the season, so I think it’s like this every April,” Hudson said. “As guys in the rotation start to build up more stamina, I think that will take a little bit of stress off us.”

The Dodgers might have better absorbed the injuries to Graterol and Treinen if veteran right-handers Ryan Brasier and Joe Kelly were pitching more like they did in 2023.

But Brasier, who went 2-0 with an 0.70 ERA in 39 games last season, entered Friday with a 4.50 ERA in eight games and had already given up more earned runs (four) and home runs (two) in eight innings than the three earned runs and one homer he yielded in 38 ⅔ innings in 2023.

Kelly, who had a 1.74 ERA in 11 games for the Dodgers after his July 28 trade from the Chicago White Sox last season, entered Friday with a 5.87 ERA in eight games, giving up four of his five earned runs in a five-run seventh inning of a 6-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on March 30.

“I feel pretty good physically, but my velocity is down a little bit,” said the 37-year-old Brasier, who gave up three runs — two on a Fernando Tatis Jr. homer — in a three-run seventh inning of an 8-7 loss to San Diego on April 12. “I’m doing some things to try to get it back to normal.”

Brasier’s four-seam fastball, which averaged 95.7 mph in 2023, is averaging 94.2 mph this season, his two-seam sinking fastball, which averaged 96.0 mph in 2023, is down to 93.9 mph, and his cut-fastball has dropped from 92.0 mph to 90.5 mph.

The 85-mph slider that was so effective for Brasier last season, when he held opponents to a .120 average (10 for 83) and no homers in at-bats ending with the pitch, has yielded a .417 average (five for 12) and two homers this season.

Kelly’s velocity is also down a tick, from 98.9 mph on his sinker to 97.7 mph, from 98.0 mph on his four-seamer to 98.0 mph, and from 91.6 mph on his slider to 90.4 mph, but the 35-year-old still ranks in the 96th percentile in fastball velocity.

“Whether you’re a starter or a reliever, you kind of have to minimize damage,” Roberts said. “If you look back at some of the games we haven’t won, we’ve given up crooked numbers in certain innings.”

There are some bright spots in the bullpen. Phillips entered Friday with a 1.17 ERA in eight games and had converted all five of his save opportunities. Veteran left-hander Ryan Yarbrough was 2-0 with a 3.20 ERA in 19 ⅔ innings over his first six games.

Hudson, who missed the second half of 2022 and most of 2023 because of knee injuries, was so effective in his first nine games (2.00 ERA, 12 strikeouts, no walks in nine innings) that he has moved into a setup role.

“Obviously, with the arms that we had, I wasn’t really expecting anything,” said the 37-year-old Hudson, who signed a minor league deal in December. “I knew I could still fill that [setup] role. The fact that I’m doing it early on, it’s been a lot of fun.”

Hudson wouldn’t have assumed such a high-leverage role if Graterol and Treinen were healthy, and the bullpen will be hard-pressed to regain the second-half dominance that helped propel the Dodgers to a 100-win season in 2023 until Graterol and Treinen return.

“Knowing what they can do late in games, it just lengthens our bullpen to have those two guys in there with experience pitching in big situations,” said Hudson, who closed for the World Series-winning Washington Nationals in 2019. “It’ll be nice to get those guys back when they’re ready.”

As Bob Baffert will miss the Kentucky Derby for a third year in a row due to suspension, one of his finer horses will also miss the race.

A judge has denied a request by the owner of the Baffert-trained horse, Muth, to let him run in the first leg of the Triple Crown next month.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Mitch Perry on Thursday declined to grant a temporary injunction to Zedan Racing Stables, which had argued that the 2021 suspension of Baffert from Churchill Downs was “illegal.”

Muth won the Arkansas Derby on March 30 but is ineligible to receive the 100 points that would have put him in the Run for the Roses because of Baffert’s suspension.

Perry’s ruling noted that ZRS knew that Derby-eligible horses had to be transferred to a non-suspended trainer by Jan. 29 yet chose to remain with Baffert. The judge also wrote that Churchill Downs has a duty to ensure that rules and regulations put in place to ensure a level playing field are upheld.

In his ruling, Perry expressed concern about “innocent third parties” having to remove eligible horses from the Derby on May 4 to accommodate the horse trained by the Hall of Famer, whose suspension by Churchill Downs was extended through 2024.

Eric Andrus, a spokesman for ZRS, said an emergency appeal would be filed “as soon as possible.”

Trainer Bob Baffert during the 2022 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland Race Course on Nov. 4, 2022 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

CHINA’S GAMBLING HUB OF MACAO BIDS FAREWELL TO HORSE RACING TRADITION AFTER MORE THAN 40 YEARS

Baffert was suspended from Churchill Downs for two years after a positive drug test on Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The horse was stripped of its victory, and to make the controversy even worse, it died that December from a heart attack after a workout in Santa Anita. The California courts had a serious face-lift in safety protocols after 30 horses died at the track in 2019.

Churchill Downs Inc. then extended the suspension through 2024, citing “continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses to CDI-owned racetracks.” The track also briefly paused racing last year after a dozen horses died at the course in nearly a one-month span, including seven during the week, and even hours leading up to last year’s Derby. The New York Racing Association, which operates the Belmont Stakes, also placed a two-year ban on him in 2021, and he was also disallowed from the 2022 Preakness Stakes.

Baffert returned to the Triple Crown trail last May after having missed the previous five races (his last had been the 2021 Preakness). Naturally, one of his horses, National Treasure, won the race, but on the Stakes’ undercard, another one of his horses, Havnameltdown, had to be euthanized following a “non-operable” injury.

Bob Baffert-trained Havnameltdown is taken off the track after being euthanized during the sixth race ahead of the 148th Running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on May 20, 2023 in Baltimore. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Baffert has 17 victories in Triple Crown races, not including Medina Spirit’s stripped title.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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