In a truly shocking and unfortunate turn of events, the FEI announced today that the results of samples collected from Canadian Show Jumping Team athlete, Nicole Walker of Aurora, Ontario, during the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, tested positive for the cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine, a Prohibited Substance under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code.

Walker, who was part of the fourth-placed Canadian Show Jumping Team and finished fourth overall herself riding Falco van Spieveld, has subsequently been immediately suspended from participating in FEI and Equestrian Canada (EC) sanctioned activities. This also means that Canada has lost its 2020 Olympic team qualification spot at Tokyo and may not be able to send a squad.

The FEI report reads: “A Canadian Jumping athlete who tested positive for a prohibited substance at the Pan-American Games in Lima (PER) in August this year has been provisionally suspended by the FEI. A sample taken from athlete Nicole Walker, who was a member of the fourth-placed Canadian team and also finished fourth with Falco Van Spieveld in the individual final, has tested positive for Benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, which is a prohibited substance under the FEI’s Anti-Doping Rules for Human Athletes (ADRHA). The sample was taken on 7 August, the day of the team final in Lima.

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