UCI Vice President Katerina Nash was facing a possible four-year ban after an out-of-competition urine test showed an unfavorable analysis, but the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said the Czech athlete, who was exposed to capromorelin while caring for her dog who was sick, was not negligent or The sanction will not be applied because there was no negligence.

"She had been taking it orally daily during the last weeks of her pet's life to maintain her weight," USADA said in a statement (opens in new tab).

"Due to the difficulty in administering oral pet medications, Nash frequently came into contact with liquid medications via her hands, and the medication bottles did not warn users about the risk of contamination due to dermal exposure.

"USADA, along with laboratory experts, conducted dermal exposure studies with the same pet medications containing capromorelin and established that direct contact with pet medications can result in a positive test. Importantly, these studies demonstrated a correlation between trace levels of 0.07 ng/mL (70 parts per trillion) of capromorelin detected in urine samples from athletes and exposure scenarios to the drug.

According to a statement from UCI (open in new tab), the presence of capromorelin was detected in samples taken from Nash by USADA on October 24, 2022.

Capromorelin, an appetite stimulant found in her dog's prescription medication, is not specifically listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) prohibited list, but is considered a non-specific substance by WADA in the classification of peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances and imitations. Capromorelin does not have a threshold value, so any level will induce an analytical adverse finding.

Nash, 45, is a UCI vice president and president of the UCI athletes' committee. She remains a regular cyclist, competing in gravel races as a privateer, and last year she turned her career around as a cyclocross professional at the world championships in Fayetteville and the road world championships in Wollongong.

USADA announced that Nash will not face a period of ineligibility after investing time, resources, and expertise to get to the bottom of the positive test. Without this effort, she would have been sanctioned for four years. Furthermore, USADA stated that since the sample was taken outside of the competition, there were no competitive consequences and under the rules she should have been disqualified.

"As in this case, we always work just as hard to falsely convict the truly innocent as we do the intentionally dishonest," said USADA Chief Executive Officer Travis T. Tygart.

For USADA, however, it was unreasonable to record the violation and be forced to publicize it, even though it concluded under the World Anti-Doping Code that "there was no negligence or fault with respect to the presence of capromorelin in her sample." The court clarified its view.

"USADA continues to insist that if an athlete came into contact with a prohibited substance from a completely innocent source and there is no question that his or her performance was not affected, then USADA should not have issued a violation or publication," Tygart said.

"The rules have to change. And we must all wake up and demand a fairer and more just global anti-doping system that catches and sanctions intentional cheating that robs clean athletes but does not railroad innocent athletes."