For Jara MacDermott, 2025 was a year to be proud of. The 50-year-old American masters weightlifter advanced to the USA Masters’ Triple Crown and finished the year as a W50/59 Masters National Champion with a 138 kg total at the UMWF World Championships. Yet the same championship ended her successful season after she tested positive for banned substances.
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On Aug. 20, 2026, USADA announced that MacDermott has accepted a two-year ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation. The case was brought to light after a urine sample was taken from her at the United Masters Weightlifting Federation World Championships on December 4, 2025. Three metabolites were detected in the sample. Thus, she was suspended provisionally on 23 December 2025. However, medical circumstances surrounding her case helped reduce the sanction.
The testosterone finding underwent further laboratory analysis. USADA said the sample was examined using Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry, or IRMS, a specialized test that can distinguish naturally produced testosterone from testosterone originating outside the body. According to USADA, the analysis was consistent with an “exogenous origin of testosterone and/or its metabolites in MacDermott’s sample.”
The three substances identified in the sample fall into different categories under anti-doping rules. Canrenone is a metabolite of spironolactone, which is classified as a diuretic and masking agent. Amphetamine is classified as a stimulant, while testosterone and its metabolites are classified as anabolic agents. With the laboratory findings established, the case then turned to the circumstances surrounding MacDermott’s use of the substances.
USADA’s investigation also found that MacDermott had been using the prohibited substances at the direction of a physician. However, she did not have a valid Therapeutic Use Exemption. So, USADA determined that her use still constituted an anti-doping rule violation. Under the applicable rules, she faced a default four-year period of ineligibility. However, USADA determined that the specific circumstances of her case made her eligible for a reduction, and MacDermott ultimately accepted a two-year sanction.
The consequences also reach much further back than the December 2025 competition. USADA determined that MacDermott began using testosterone on June 1, 2018, and as a result, all of her competitive results obtained on and after that date have been disqualified. She also must forfeit medals, points, and prizes which are associated with those achievements.
That decision is especially notable, since MacDermott had created some of her greatest successes at that time. Her best year was 2025 when she was one of 17 USA Weightlifting Masters Triple Crown winners by placing 1st in her category at the required events. She was able to lift 60 kg in the snatch and 78 kg in the clean and jerk for a total lift of 138 kg.
But those performances are now part of USADA’s retroactive disqualification.