GENEVA (AP) — Two-time Olympic finalist Erriyon Knighton was banned for four years on Friday in a doping case that ruled 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, who filed after Knighton was cleared by a U.S. tribunal of testing positive to an anabolic steroid. The tribunal accepted he was contaminated by eating meat.
WADA and the Athletics Integrity Unit argued the evidence that was presented to exonerate Knighton was statistically impossible and asked for a maximum four-year ban, the court said.
Knighton is the sixth fastest man 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.
That time set in 2022 is still the world junior record, almost a half-second faster than Usain Bolt's best at the same age. Bolt later set the 19.19 world record that has stood for 16 years.
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)," said the court, which held the appeal hearing in June in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The ban starts on Friday and cut more than two months off 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 Athletics 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.
Montreal-based WADA said in a statement it was “pleased with the outcome of this case and will continue to appeal cases to CAS when it feels justice has not been served.”
CAS said Knighton was 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 on Saturday in Tokyo. He has silver and bronze medals in the 200 from the past two worlds.
He finished fifth at the U.S. trials won by Lyles on Aug. 3 in Eugene, Oregon. According to World Athletics, it was the only meeting he appeared in since April.
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