LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Two-time Olympic finalist Erriyon Knighton was banned for four years on Friday in a doping case of an anabolic steroid that rules the 21-year-old United States sprinter out of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judges upheld separate appeals by the World Anti-Doping Agency and track and field investigators filed after Knighton was cleared by a tribunal in the U.S. that accepted he was contaminated by eating meat.
WADA and the Athletics Integrity Unit argued the evidence that had been presented was statistically impossible and asked for a maximum four-year ban, the court said.
Knighton is the in track history over 200 meters, with a best time of 19.49 seconds. Only Noah Lyles and Michael Johnson are ahead of him among American sprinters.
The first tribunal ruling last year let Knighton run at the Paris Olympics where he placed fourth in the 200 for the second straight Summer Games.
“After considering the scientific evidence, the CAS panel determined that there is no proof that would support the conclusion that oxtail imported into the USA would be likely to contain trenbolone residues at the level required to have caused the (positive test),” the court said.
The ban that starts Friday is cut for the more than two months of a provisional suspension Knighton served last year, CAS said. The ban should expire in early July 2029.
The steroid Knighton tested positive for can be used in livestock farming.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency prosecuted Knighton’s original case and accepted the “no-fault” ruling based on the explanation he was contaminated by oxtail from a bakery in central Florida.
“World Athletes and WADA considered that the evidence submitted by the athlete and his explanations of a meat contamination scenario fell short of the required proof of source and were statistically impossible,” the court said.
CAS said Knighton is not disqualified from the Paris Olympics, where he finished in 19.99 behind gold medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana and his U.S. teammates Kenny Bednarek and Lyles.
Knighton did not qualify in the 200 for the U.S. team at the world championships which open Saturday in Tokyo. He has silver and bronze medals in the 200 from the past two worlds.
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