Cas bans US sprinter Erriyon Knighton for four years
Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji ineligible pending case appeal
Doping in track and field has been thrust back into the spotlight on the eve of the World Athletics Championships after the US sprint star Erriyon Knighton was banned for four years and the Ethiopian Diribe Welteji was declared ineligible to run in Tokyo because of a case still being adjudicated. Both athletes had previously won world championship medals.
The 21-year-old Knighton, who won a world championship bronze over 200m in 2022 and silver in 2023, had blamed his failed drugs test last year on contaminated oxtail imported from abroad. However on Friday the court of arbitration for sport rejected Knighton’s defence. A press release said: “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.”
As a result the star, who finished fourth in the men’s 200m at the Paris Olympics, was banned until 2029.
