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The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) threw out an appeal by Grenadian 400-metre sprinter Bralon Taplin. He was suspended for four years for missing an in-competition drug test.
The 28-year-old left the Grenada Invitational Athletics Championships on April 13, 2019. He had won the 400m, then apparently ignored a doping control officer, left the stadium and then took an early flight back to Grenada the following day.
He argued during his appeal that he was not properly informed by a doping control officer of a pending test after his race and therefore should be able to compete.
An arbitrator stated, “Considering all of the evidence accepted in this procedure, the sole arbitrator was comfortably satisfied that the athlete was guilty of the offence of evading sample collection.”
He was initially provisionally banned by the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Agency.
He attended Texas A&M and his coach his Alleyne Francique, a 400m specialist who owns a best of 44.47. Taplin has run 44.38 (pb). He also owns a 10.53 100m and 20.83 200m bests.
He finished in seventh place at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games where he has set his lifetime personal best.