US Sprinter Knighton Banned Four Years After Losing Doping Appeal

American sprinter Erriyon Knighton has been handed a four-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for doping violations. The ruling overturns an earlier decision that cleared him to compete in the Paris Olympics.

CAS Rejects Contaminated Meat Defense

The 21-year-old was charged with an Anti-Doping Rule Violation in May 2024 after testing positive for epitrenbolone, a metabolite of the anabolic steroid trenbolone. Knighton had argued the substance entered his system through contaminated oxtail from a Florida bakery.

Despite initially being cleared by a U.S. tribunal that accepted his meat contamination defense, CAS ruled Friday that there was “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”.

Ban Effective Immediately

The ban took effect September 12, 2025, but Knighton receives credit for a provisional suspension he served between April 12 and June 19, 2024. His competitive results from March 26 to April 12, 2024, have been disqualified.

The suspension will keep Knighton sidelined until July 2029, ruling him out of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the ongoing World Championships in Tokyo.

Rising Star’s Career Derailed

Knighton holds the sixth-fastest time in men’s 200-meter history at 19.49 seconds and owns the world junior record. The Tampa native earned bronze at the 2022 World Championships and silver in 2023.

His agent John Regis condemned the ruling as a “travesty,” telling Reuters that independent testing of oxtail from the same restaurant revealed trenbolone traces. “This should have been an open and shut case,” Regis said.

World Athletics and WADA successfully appealed the original ruling, arguing Knighton’s contamination claims were “statistically impossible” and lacked sufficient proof. The organizations sought the maximum four-year penalty after concluding his defense fell short of required evidence standards.