The FIM handed down Christian Craig‘s punishment for trace amounts of a banned substance, Heptaminol, showing up in his WADA drug screen way back on 3/10/2018. The punishment is a two-year suspension despite it taking the FIM and WADA 10 and a half months to inform Christian of the dirty test. Now they tell him if he can produce the supplement that might have had the substance in it, they might go lighter on him but 16 months later it might be difficult at this point to track that down. I think Adam Cianciarulo says it best in his comment on Christian Craig’s Instagram post, “Wow, what a shit show.”
Either way, it looks like the FIM started the clock on Christian’s suspension on 3/10/18. So while Christian’s 2019 season is now over, he can resume his career on 3/10/2020, a full month after the 250SX Eastern Regional SX Championship kicks off.
Christian posted the following message on his Instagram account today
“Woke up this morning to the results of my CDI hearing. The three person panel of judges, whom are appointed by the FIM, decided on a 2 year suspension from the testing date (March 10th, 2018). The two year suspension would mean I can no longer race until March 9th, 2020 and all results in between will be cleared.
The FIM wanted the source of the trace amount of Heptaminol. It’s almost impossible to provide proof of source when they waited 10.5 months before notifying me- a delay they have not explained and have only offered an apology. Although the FIM have stated they don’t believe I intentionally ingested the substance, they argue I was negligent on ensuring everything that went into my body was examined by a medical doctor.
I will be appealing FIM’s decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
Check out Christian’s Instagram post below. Make sure you read the riders’ comments. Hopefully they act on this frustration or nothing will ever change. If the FIM and WADA does not push the riders into forming some kind of a union or riders organization, nothing will.
