Banned athlete says he was high on chocolate

PARIS: American pole vaulter Cole Walsh who was suspended for three months after failing a doping test said the cause was not cannabis but chocolate.

Walsh, 10th at the last World Athletics Championships in Qatar in 2019 tested positive for carboxy-THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis. “I ate a chocolate bar containing THC to help me sleep during a flight, I didn’t imagine it would represent enough carboxy-THC in my body to make me positive on a test,” Walsh posted on social media.

In announcing the ban on Monday, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) also said the 24-year-old had completed it.Walsh tested positive after finishing third in an indoor meeting in Cottbus, Germany on January 29, which therefore marked the starting date of his ban.