Some stories don’t just unfold, they’re forged in fire. Take this 30-year-old track and field athlete who, back in 2017, was setting the track on fire with a 22.09 seconds in the 200m for Oregon. She wasn’t just fast, she made history as the first active female student-athlete from the University of Oregon to qualify for the Olympic Games in track and field. The future looked bright, like the world was hers for the taking. But then, everything changed in 2019.
After missing three doping tests within a year, she was slapped with an 18-month suspension. The Athletics Integrity Unit, which prosecutes doping cases in track and field, confirmed she missed doping controls in Oregon and West Hollywood. Three whereabouts violations in a single year automatically lead to a ban, and for her, that meant missing the Tokyo Olympics and enduring a tough mental battle. That athlete is Deajah Stevens. But now? Where is she?
Now, freed from her suspension, Deajah is back and ready to fight among the track and field elite in 2025. She’s entered in the women’s 100m at the Rabat Diamond League on May 25th, going up against some of the best in the world. It will be her first Diamond League since 2018. Leading the field is Shericka Jackson from Jamaica, the world’s number two fastest woman in the 200m, with a blistering personal best of 21.41 seconds.
The women’s 100m lineup for the Rabat Diamond League on May 25th
• Shericka Jackson
• Jacious Sears
• Deajah Stevens
• Maia McCoy
• Zoe Hobbs
• Rani Rosius
• Celera Barnes
• Cambrea Strugis
• Bree Rizzo #RabatDL pic.twitter.com/QOcWWI66Px
— Owen (@_OwenM_) May 20, 2025
However, for this season, Shericka hasn’t yet raced the 100m but remains a dominant force. Other top contenders include Jacious Sears of the USA, who famously beat Sha’Carri Richardson last year and holds a season best of 11.25; Maia McCoy, recently clocking an impressive 11.02; New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs at 11.11; Celera Barnes with 11.01; Cambrea Sturgis, who is blazing fast with a 10.98; Bree Rizzo from Australia at 11.23; and Belgium’s Rani Rosius. But the road won’t be easy.
Deajah Stevens’ last recorded participation in a Diamond League event was at the 2018 Shanghai Diamond League. In that meet, she competed in the women’s 200 meters and finished eighth with a time of 23.05 seconds. However, Deajah’s current season best is 11.47, which places her behind some of these lightning-fast sprinters. But here’s the real question: if her ban ended in 2021, why are we just seeing her return now in track and field? Where was she all this time?
Deajah Stevens returns to track and field
Deajah Stevens was on track literally for greatness in track and field. She’d already placed seventh in the 200 meters at the Rio Olympics, and Tokyo 2020 looked like her moment. But then life threw a curveball. In 2020, she was hit with an 18-month ban after missing three drug tests in 2019. The reasons? Complicated. She’d changed her phone number to escape a stalker, her phone died once, and another time she forgot to update her contact info.
Even though the tribunal acknowledged the harassment she faced, they still called her out for negligence. They shaved six months off the usual two-year ban, but the damage was done; she missed the Tokyo Olympics. Fast forward to 2024, and Stevens made her quiet but determined return to the track. Her comeback began at Griswold Stadium in Portland, where she clocked 23.43 seconds in the 200m, her first race since the suspension.
It wasn’t a headline-grabber, but it was a start. After everything she’d been through, just stepping onto the track again was a win in itself. Then came April 2025, and boom, she reminded everyone who she was. At the Mt. SAC Relays, Stevens blazed through the 200m in 22.73 seconds, snagging second place and running her fastest time since 2017.
It was her first sub-23-second finish in years, signaling that she’s not just back, she’s ready to make some noise in track and field. The comeback story is still being written.
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