Former Australian 100m Champion Jake Doran Charged With Indecent Treatment of a Child

Jake Doran, the 2022 Australian 100m champion and a two-time World Championships qualifier, is facing one count of indecent treatment of a child under 16, the Guardian first reported.

Queensland police arrested Doran, 26, in Townsville on Oct. 13. Police listed the charge as “indecent treatment of child under 16 (indecent film etc)” and said their investigation looked at a stretch of time from January 2025 through September 2026. Doran was released on bail, and police say their inquiries are continuing.

His 2022 season was the high point of his career on the track. He won the national 100m title with a wind-assisted 10.05, beating Eddie Osei-Nketia, who finished sixth in the 100m final at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Later that year Doran made the 100m semifinals at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and he went out in the heats at the World Championships in Eugene, Ore., and again a year later in Budapest. He added the Australian 200m title in 2023, but he has not run faster than 10.39 for 100m since then.

Doran has a business development role with TAFE Queensland, which has suspended him until the court case is resolved. A TAFE spokesperson said that, on what the provider knows so far, the allegations are “understood to be unrelated” to his work there, and there is nothing to suggest they involve its students, staff or campuses.

Doran had been coaching athletes in Townsville, though Australian Athletics said he does not work for the federation in any capacity. Pending the outcome of the case, its provisional measures bar him from club, member association and national events and from athletics training. “The safety and wellbeing of all participants in our sport is paramount, and we take all allegations of this nature very seriously,” a spokesperson for Australian Athletics said, according to the Guardian. His athlete profile has disappeared from the federation’s website, and his Instagram account has been deleted. Queensland Athletics, the state body, would not comment.

The Guardian reported that it had contacted Doran for comment. He is due in Townsville Magistrates Court on Nov. 5, and the charge has not been tested in court.