Champion faces four-year suspension

Four-time Canadian women’s curling champion Briane Harris has been provisionally suspended up to four years after testing positive for a banned substance.

The athlete, a member of Team Kerri Einarson out of Gimli, Man. has appealed the ruling, and will argue she was unknowingly exposes through bodily contact.

Team Eianrson issued a statement today:

In mid-February, Briane found out she received a positive test for a banned substance. As a result, she is subject to a provisional suspension from competition until a final decision has been reached.

As best can be determined at this time, Briane was unknowingly exposed to this substance through bodily contact. She has retained counsel and is seeking to clear her name.

Late last week, Briane’s B Sample confirmed the trace presence of the substance.

The statement goes on to strike a possibly defiant note, perhaps aimed at some of the thousands of social media comments that were made on Feb. 16 and in the weeks that followed. 

Feb. 16 was the opening day of the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian women’s championship, when it was announced by Curling Canada that Harris had suddenly been “deemed ineligible” to compete.

Any silence from Briane, Team Einarson, Curling Canada or any of the other parties familiar with this matter was simply due to the need to maintain strict confidentiality while the B sample was being tested.

We will continue to have Briane’s back and stand by her through this process. We remain focused on finishing the season on a strong note and will curl to the best of our abilities for our team, our families, sponsors and our fans.

This will be our only statement on the situation.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

CBC Sports reports the banned substance is Ligandrol, used to increase muscle growth and overall energy.

Harris gave a quote to CBC.

“I was entirely shocked and devastated when I became aware of my positive test result,” the 32-year-old Harris said. “As someone who does not take any supplements at all, and even hesitates to take Advil or Tylenol, I was in disbelief that this could happen to me.

“I was crushed that I could not play in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and help my teammates defend our title. My goal now is to resolve this as soon as possible to preserve my Olympic dreams; it would be unbearable to have that in jeopardy over no wrongdoing on my part.”

The news of the doping violation and suspension dropped the day after Harris’ birthday.

Team alternate Krysten Karwacki replaced Harris at the Tournament of Hearts and won an all-star award. 

Karwacki will maintain Harris’ place in the team at their final event of the season, the Grand Slam circuit’s Players’ Championship at downtown Toronto in April.

Harris herself played a part in selecting the date of today’s reveal. In sync with the decision, World Curling also issued a statement.

World Curling is committed to clean and safe sport and is fully compliant with the WADA code. As such, World Curling has a comprehensive in and out of competition testing programme along with a variety of athlete educational resources.

During an out-of-competition test in January, Canadian athlete Briane Harris, received an adverse analytical finding on both her A and B samples.

Due to the nature of the substance involved, Harris has been provisionally suspended while the results management process under the anti-doping rules remains ongoing.

The rigorous testing programme is essential to the safeguarding of our sport and allows all our athletes to compete on a fair and even level.