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≡ KNIGHTON DOPING BAN ≡
“[A]lthough the oxtail contamination scenario brought forward by the Athlete to explain the AAF [doping positive] is not, per se, scientifically impossible, the Panel finds that one of the main premises of this hypothesised scenario, i.e. that the ingested oxtail contained enough trenbolone residues to have caused that AAF, does not, in light of the factual evidence submitted in the present matter, seem plausible and certainly not more likely than not.”
That was the key finding in the 36-page Court of Arbitration for Sport opinion published on Friday (26th), agreeing with the appeal by the Athletics Integrity Unit and the World Anti-Doping Agency and imposing a four-year ban on 21-year-old U.S. sprint star Erriyon Knighton, a two-time World Championships medalist at 200 m and a two-time Olympian.
Knighton returned a positive for epitrenbolone, related to the steroid trenbolone, which is prohibited under the World Anti-Doping Code, from an out-of-competition test on 26 March 2024. Knighton believed the doping positive was the result of eating meat – oxtail – on 22-23 March at a Brandon, Florida restaurant, the Moreno Bakery.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency pursued a suspension, but Knighton was cleared by an independent arbitrator on 19 June 2024, deeming he bore “no fault or negligence” for the doping positive, caused by consumption of contaminated meat. Thus, Knighton was able to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials, where he made the U.S. team and finished fourth at Paris 2024.
The AIU and WADA appealed the no-fault ruling, and sought a four-year suspension. Its case was essentially:
● “This meat contamination scenario put forward by the Athlete cannot explain the concentration of trenbolone found in the Athlete’s sample. The concentration found in the meat analysed by USADA is 0.1 ng/g, i.e. a concentration within the legal frameset applicable in the USA. Such concentration is far too low to cause the AAF.”
● “Indeed, according to [WADA expert witness] Prof. Christiane Ayotte, the meat contamination scenario is statistically impossible as the concentration of trenbolone in the Athlete’s Sample exceeded the concentration that was present – if any – in the oxtail dish consumed three to four days prior to the collection of that Sample.”
● “Further, a report and a study by [WADA witness] Prof. Brad Johnson establishes that it is highly unlikely that the Athlete consumed meat contaminated with a concentration of trenbolone required to cause the AAF. There is no evidence that meat could be contaminated to such a level to make the contamination scenario put forward by the Athlete work.”
Knighton’s defense pointed to multiple facts in his favor, not only as to the contamination of the meat he ate, but also the unintentional nature of the circumstances:
● “[B]y objectively establishing that (i) he consumed oxtail from Moreno Bakery; (ii) Moreno Bakery’s oxtail was sourced by [provisions company] Sukarne; and (iii) Sukarne produces oxtail that contains detectable levels of trenbolone residue and sells this contaminated oxtail to Moreno Bakery, the Athlete has brought forward more objective evidence that contaminated meat was the source of his AAF than any athlete in any published no-fault meat contamination case.
“This case is very similar to CAS 2019/A/6313 and it is worth noting that the Appellants have not cited a case where (i) the athlete adduced concrete evidence to establish that he ingested meat; (ii) the athlete identified the source of the meat; (iii) a sample of the same cut of meat from the same producer (different shipment) was analysed for residue; and (iv) the sample tested positive for the anabolic agent identified in the athlete’s positive test.”
● “Regardless of how much the Appellants argue about the concentration estimates for the urine sample and the Oxtail samples tested by USADA, the undisputed fact is that there is no reliable concentration measurement of trenbolone in either. Anti-doping agencies cannot routinely perform qualitative tests that fail to provide accurate concentration level measurements and then attempt to disprove an athlete’s explanation based on such inaccurate tests.”
● “[T]he evidence indicates the plausibility of the Moreno Bakery oxtail from Sukarne consumed by Mr. Knighton being contaminated with trenbolone at levels higher than the USDA’s maximum residue limit of 2 ng/g.”
As to the unintentional nature of the incident, which would reduce Knighton’s maximum punishment to two years and not four, Knighton’s counsel argued:
“If the Panel were to find that the Respondent failed to establish the source of the trenbolone, he would still be able to establish, on a balance of probability, that the ADRV was not intentional. Indeed, according to the legal literature and CAS jurisprudence, the source of the prohibited substance does not have to be established in order to establish lack of intent.”
However, the three-member arbitration panel didn’t buy Knighton’s arguments:
● “[T]here is no evidence before the Panel that would support the conclusion or the inference that oxtail from cattle imported by Sukarne (or any other big producer) into the USA would be likely to contain trenbolone residues at the level required to have caused the Athlete’s AAF.”
● “[T]here is no evidence showing that the levels of residues of trenbolone or trenbolone acetate necessary for causing an AAF at the levels detected has, ever since the allowed maximal residue levels have been reduced to 2.0 ng/g in the USA, been found in a meat sample tested and analysed in the USA, Canada or even anywhere else.”
● “[A] reasonable estimation of the ingested dose to cause the AAF (estimated at 1,1 ng/mL after 72 hours) would be approximately 0.01 mg to 3 mg. For such a dose to have come from the oxtail dish bought at Moreno Bakery, and assuming that the Athlete ate most of the 2 pounds of oxtail contained in that dish, the oxtail should have, according to the Athlete’s expert Prof. [Pascal] Kintz, contained around 20 ng/g of trenbolone.
“According to the expert report of Prof. James T. Dalton, submitted by the Appellants, and which, in the Panel’s view, may also be considered as containing assumptions favourable to the Athlete, that oxtail dish would have had to contain approximately 38 ng/g of trenbolone.”
The panel further dismissed Knighton’s evidence of unintentional ingestion of a prohibited substance:
“In the present case, there were two negative anti-doping tests in proximity to the positive test date, from 1 March 2024 and 14 April 2024. These tests exclude that the Athlete applied – what his expert Prof. Kintz described as – a normal doping cycle, i.e. a daily intake of trenbolone over a period of 6, 8 or 10 weeks.
“However, accepting this conclusion, nothing else may be reasonably inferred from these two negative tests as they do not exclude the possibility of a voluntary ingestion of, for example, a single dose of 100 mg of trenbolone on 10 March 2024, as suggested in the report of Prof. Dalton, or repetitive microdosing.”
Thus, the panel imposed a four-year ban on Knighton:
“In light of all the above considerations, the Panel concludes that the Athlete, on the balance of probabilities, has not been able to rebut the presumption according to which his ADRV [doping violation] was intentional. The Panel emphasizes that this does not mean that the Panel is convinced that the Athlete intentionally ingested (or injected) trenbolone, but that the Athlete failed to establish, according to the relevant standard of proof, that his ADRV was not intentional.”
Barring a miracle appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, Knighton will miss the 2027 World Athletics Championships, 2028 Olympic Games and likely the 2029 World Championships as his suspension will end on approximately 5 September 2029.
He received strict treatment from the Court of Arbitration for Sport panel; the only positive out of the entire process is that he will still be just 25 when he regains eligibility.
The decision is also a warning to all athletes that however careful you are about doping, you are never careful enough.
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