FIM Issues Two-Year Suspension To Christian Craig
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Christian Craig has announced he received a final verdict from the FIM for an adverse finding of a prohibited substance in a urine sample that had been collected at the 2018 Daytona Supercross, and the ruling is far more severe than what the GEICO Honda rider and his legal team anticipated. In an Instagram post on Monday afternoon, Craig explained that the international ruling body of motorcycle competition has determined a two-year suspension from competition is the punishment, a decision he intends to appeal through the Court of Arbitration of Sport.
The sample was collected at the 2018 Daytona Supercross in March, when Craig was in the 450 class as a fill-in rider for Team Honda HRC. Testing by WADA found a trace amount of Heptaminol, an amino alcohol that is classified as a cardiac stimulant in medicine and used by some bodybuilding supplement companies as a fat-burner and in veterinarian applications to dilates blood vessels to increase blood flow in horses. Heptaminol is classified by WADA as a stimulant under the “Prohibited In Competition” section of the 2019 WADA Prohibited Substance & Method List. Craig was notified of the finding on January 23rd, 2019, via an email from the FIM, and has spent the last six months working with the ruling body to explain how the substances entered his body, why it took so long to be notified, and what a fitting punishment would be.
Details of the situation were kept quiet until June, when Craig publically announced what had occurred in the past months and how he intended to work with the FIM. The GEICO Honda rider sat out multiple rounds of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship as a way to appease the officials and as recently as two weeks ago, Craig was told that his punishment was not expected to have any impact on the remainder of the 2019 season.
The final verdict of a two-year suspension, which will be post-dated to March 10, 2018 (when the test was conducted), will keep Craig off of the race track until March 9, 2020. In addition to the suspension, all results from March 10, 2018, to now will be void.
Craig said that he has extensively researched how the substance would have gotten into his body and he believes it was through a contaminated supplement. “I have spent the last six months testing myself & everything I’ve ever used to find the source. With a lot of research, I am convinced that my positive test came from a contaminated supplement. I have learned many supplements include ingredients that are sourced from all around the world. Which makes it nearly impossible to guarantee non-contaminated ingredients, especially a year later,” he stated in the initial social media post in June.
In today’s post announcing the verdict, Craig said, “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.”
We will update this post with more information as it becomes available…
While I think riders may need to increase their awareness of what’s going into their bodies, it’s a complete and utter disaster what’s happening with FIM/WADA and our sport. The level of professionalism and respect demonstrated towards the riders, riders families, teams, associations, and fans in the process of their (lack of) notifications alone is unacceptable. Time for Feld and MX Sports to step up and take control.