Abramova one-year meldonium ban lifted

Ukraine biathlete Olga Abramova had her one-year ban for testing positive for meldonium lifted on Wednesday after she was judged to bear "no fault or negligence", the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled.

The 28-year-old tested positive for the substance at a World Cup event on January 10, 2016 but she had taken the product in the previous December before it was placed on the banned list.

"The CAS Panel agreed with the Anti-Doping Hearing Panel (ADHP) that Olga Abramova had committed an (anti-doping) violation, but in contrast found that in the very specific circumstances of her case she bore no fault or negligence for it," said a CAS statement.

"The panel was comfortably satisfied that the athlete fulfilled her obligation to ensure that meldonium did not enter her body after January 1, 2016, i.e. on the date when meldonium became prohibited.

"Indeed the athlete could not reasonably have known or suspected even with the exercise of utmost caution that meldonium could still be detected in her blood after January 1, 2016."

Meldonium was the substance which led to a two-year ban for tennis superstar Maria Sharapova after she tested positive at the Australian Open in 2016.

Her ban was subsequently reduced to 15 months and she will make her return to the sport in Stuttgart on April 26.