Decision on top Canadian canoeist’s doping case set to be revealed

MONTREAL – One of Canada’s top 2020 Olympic medal contenders is expected to find out a decision on a doping case affecting her status for Tokyo on Monday.

Canoeist Laurence Vincent Lapointe is slated to speak at press conferences in Trois-Rivieres, Que., and Montreal after the International Canoe Federation releases a decision on her case.

Vincent Lapointe, 27, remains provisionally suspended for having trace amounts of Ligandrol in an out-of-competition doping test conducted July 29.

Lapointe and her lawyer, Adam Klevinas, attended a hearing before the ICF’s Doping Control Panel in Lausanne, Switzerland, to present their case in December.

Ligandrol, used to treat conditions such as muscle wasting and osteoporosis, is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances because it has an anabolic steroids effect.

Klevinas has contended the Ligandrol could have come from contaminated supplements. The canoeist has said she gets her products from the National Team Training Centre.

Women’s sprint canoe makes its Olympic debut in Tokyo.

Vincent Lapointe is a gold-medal contender having won a combined 11 world titles in C-1 and C-2 in her career.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2020.