American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson has tried positive for cannabis, sources have told Reuters, and she is probably not going to find the opportunity to challenge for the Olympic 100m title in Tokyo not long from now.
Jamaica’s Gleaner newspaper was first to report the news on Thursday night, saying Richardson tried positive for a unspecified prohibited substance.
Sha’Carri Richardson celebrates winning the 200m at the IAAF Golden Spike meeting in the Czech Republic in May.
As per one source familiar with the matter, the positive test came at the US Olympic trials last month where Richardson set up herself as a gold medal contender by winning the 100m in 10.86sec.
A positive test during the trials would mean the entirety of Richardson’s results from the meet would be cleared out, voiding her victory in the 100m last.
Another source familiar with the matter said that Jenna Prandini, who completed fourth in the last, had effectively been drawn closer to run for the US in the 100m in Tokyo.
The two sources requested anonymity because of the affectability of the matter.
Calls and e-mails to Richardson’s representative, Renaldo Nehemiah, the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) and USA Track and Field (USATF) went unanswered on Thursday.
The 21-year-old from Dallas will show up on NBC’s Today Show on Friday, the organization affirmed to Reuters.
Richardson, who has been hailed as the most thrilling run star since Usain Bolt, was charged to run in the 200m at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting in Sweden this end of the week however she was not on the entry list for the race the meet’s true site on Thursday.
Cannabis is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) however on the off chance that competitors can demonstrate that their ingestion of the substance was irrelevant to sports performance then a suspension of 90 days instead of the typical four years is forced.
On the off chance that a competitor will embrace a supported treatment program in a joint effort with their national anti-doping body then the boycott can be reduced to one month.
The Texan was expecting to turn into the primary American woman to win the Olympic 100m title since Gail Devers in 1996 subsequent to posting 10.72sec in April – one of her five runs under 11 seconds this season.
A 30-day boycott predated to the hour of the adverse result could leave Richardson clear to race in the 4x100m transfer at the Olympics on 6 August, whenever chose by USATF.
Richardson could likewise bid any sanction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), as could some other games body who felt a discipline was excessively lenient.
