Britain's Traynor suspended for two years for doping violation

[June 23, 2020]    (Reuters) - British long-distance runner Luke Traynor has been handed a two-year suspension from all sport for a doping violation, the UK Anti-Doping agency (UKAD) said on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old had tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine, a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), during an in-competition urine test last May, UKAD said in a statement.

Traynor, who represented Britain at the World Cross-Country Championships in 2019, had previously apologised, admitting he had taken the substance socially and not to enhance performance.

"I am sorry to my family, friends, coaches sponsors... I want to make it completely clear that my violation was in no relation to sport or enhancing performance," Traynor said last year.

Traynor is ineligible to compete until May 2021.

(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)

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