American sprinter Erriyon Knighton handed four-year doping ban

The 21-year-old has been prevented from competing at the upcoming World Championships in Tokyo

Erriyon Knighton at the Paris 2024 Olympics (Getty Images)

American sprinter Erriyon Knighton was handed a four-year ban for doping after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) partially upheld appeals by World Athletics and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

His ban is effective from Friday with credit for the provisional suspension he served between 12 April and 19 June last year, preventing the 21-year-old from competing at the upcoming World Championships in Tokyo.

Knighton, a 200m world silver medallist in 2023, was charged with an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) in May 2024 when an out-of-competition doping test revealed the presence of Epitrenbolone, an anabolic steroid on Wada prohibited list.

The US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) attempted to sanction Knighton but an Arbitration Tribunal said he should not be banned as he bore no fault or negligence in connection to the use and presence of the substance.

The decision had cleared him to compete in the US Olympic trials.

Erriyon Knighton has been suspended for four years (Getty Images)

However, World Athletics and the global anti-doping body appealed to sport's highest court against Usada and Knighton to set aside the Tribunal's decision and both appeals were considered jointly.

"WA 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," Cas said in a statement.

"Knighton argued that the ADRV was caused by the ingestion of an oxtail dish contaminated with trenbolone."

Trenbolone is a known livestock growth promoter used legally in beef cattle produced in and exported to the United States.

"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 athlete's Adverse Analytical Finding," it added.

Although Cas upheld the appeal for a four-year ban, they only partially granted their request to disqualify all his results since March 2024. He has been disqualified retroactively from 26 March to 12 April, 2024.

This comes after Ethiopian middle distance runner Diribe Welteji was confirmed to miss the World Athletics Championships after a request for her provisional suspension by the Athletics Integrity Unit while a doping case is heard was upheld by Cas.

The 23-year-old, who won silver in the 1,500 metres at the last world championships in Budapest two years ago, was cleared of a charge of failing or refusing to submit a doping sample by the Ethiopian Anti-Doping Authority in late August.

The AIU appealed to Cas and said on Thursday it had requested that Welteji be ineligible to compete until the matter was adjudicated.

Welteji was scheduled to run in the women's 1,500m heats at Tokyo's National Stadium on Saturday.

Reuters