Erriyon Knighton career receives major setback after wrong food choice

American sprinter Erriyon Knighton has received a four-year competition ban after the Court of Arbitration for Sport partially upheld appeals from World Athletics and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The 21-year-old 200-meter world silver medalist tested positive for the anabolic steroid Epitrenbolone in May 2024, which he attributed to contamination from an oxtail dish at a restaurant.

Meanwhile, initially being cleared by a tribunal that accepted his meat contamination defense, sport's highest court reversed the decision after WADA presented expert testimony arguing contaminated meat was not a plausible explanation for the prohibited substance presence.

The ban blocks Knighton from participating in the ongoing World Athletics Championships and the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Knighton's agent John Regis condemned the ruling as a travesty, noting that independent testing of oxtail from the same restaurant had revealed trenbolone traces.

Regis highlighted the documented use of growth promoters in the American beef industry and expressed: "This should have been an open and shut case."

Agent suggested political motivations influenced WADA's appeal, comparing the case to recently cleared cases involving Chinese swimmers.

WADA maintained its position that Knighton failed to conclusively demonstrate meat contamination as the substance source.

The agency brought forward multiple experts who convinced the CAS panel that alternative explanations were more probable than food contamination.