Scottish athlete Luke Traynor banned after testing positive for cocaine

Long-distance runner has been suspended from all sport for two years

Luke Traynor competing at the IAAF World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Denmark last year. Picture: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Scottish long-distance runner Luke Traynor has been suspended from all sport for two years after testing positive for cocaine.

The adverse finding came at last year’s Vitality London 10k race.

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) said the positive test was a result of out-of-competition cocaine use and was unrelated to sport performance. For that reason the ban is two years.

Traynor has already served more than a year of the ban, with the period of ineligibility running from 27 May 2019 until midnight on 26 May 2021.

A statement from UKAD said: “Mr Traynor explained that the AAF [Adverse Analytical Finding] was as a result of out-of-competition use, which an independent expert and UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) considered a timely admission.”

Cocaine is listed under section S6(a) of the World Anti-Doping Agency 2019 Prohibited List as a stimulant.

Pat Myhill, UKAD’s director of operations, said: “We are urging athletes to consider the significant risk that goes hand in hand with using cocaine. Athletes should be aware that cocaine, used out-of-competition, often stays in the system. If an athlete takes cocaine out-of-competition and then tests positive in-competition, they will be committing an ADRV [Anti Doping Rule Violation] and may be subject to a ban from sport.”

Traynor, 26, is a British international long-distance and cross-country runner. He competed for Great Britain at the 2019 World Cross-Country Championships and the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships. He has also represented Great Britain in the European Cross-Country Championships at U20 and U23 level.

He took cocaine during a night out in Glasgow.

UKAD’s written judgement said: “In admitting the ADRV, Mr Traynor explained that his ingestion of cocaine was not intentional as that term is contemplated by IAAF ADR Article 10.2.3. Mr Traynor asserts that on the evening of 24 May 2019 he was out drinking in Glasgow. Mr Traynor states that he was offered cocaine at approximately 2:00am on 25 May 2019, which he accepted and ingested intranasally. He states that this was the first and only time that he had ingested cocaine.”

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