Canada’s world sprint canoe champ denies she’s a cheater

Canada’s 11-time sprint canoe world champion Laurence Vincent Lapointe maintained she’s not a drug cheat on Tuesday, but conceded there will be people who will never believe her.

Canoe Kayak Canada (CKC) announced on Monday that Vincent Lapointe had returned an adverse analytical finding following an out-of-competition doping test in late July.

In accordance with the International Canoe Federation’s anti-doping rules, Vincent Lapointe has been suspended pending the final outcome of her case, disqualifying her from the world championships, which begin on Wednesday in Szeged, Hungary.

Vincent Lapointe held a news conference in Montreal on Tuesday to proclaim her innocence, where she said she didn’t knowingly consume any banned substance.

“Whether I win at the Olympics or not, there will always be someone out there who doubts that it was involuntary,” Vincent Lapointe told reporters.

“I know I didn’t do anything. I have nothing to hide and I just hope people will believe me, but certainly, there will be some people who don’t.”

Considered one of Canada’s top medal prospects at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Vincent Lapointe’s participation is now in doubt.

The 27-year-old Quebecer has dominated the canoe sprint, winning gold in the C-1 200 metres at the 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018 world championships.

The CKC says the substance found in Vincent Lapointe’s sample, which wasn’t named, has been the subject of recent tainted supplement cases.

The CKC also noted that preliminary information supports her positive test result “may have been caused by inadvertent and unknowing use of a prohibited substance from such a source.”