Paddler feels for Harris Canadian Olympic canoeist was exonerated after banned-substance Ligandrol found in her system By: Taylor Allen Posted: 6:50 PM CDT Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2024

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This article was published 13/03/2024 (750 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If there’s one person who can relate to what Briane Harris is going through, it’s Olympic canoeist Laurence Vincent Lapointe.

Harris, a four-time women’s curling national champion as the lead for Kerri Einarson’s Gimli-based team, is provisionally suspended for up to four years after testing positive for traces of the banned substance Ligandrol.

In July of 2019, Vincent Lapointe’s dream of representing Canada at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was in jeopardy as she also tested positive for that same banned substance — which is prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency as it’s used to increase energy and muscle growth — and was facing a potential four-year suspension.

Vincent Lapointe, a 31-year-old from Trois-Rivières, Que., who retired from the sport in 2022, got her ban overturned after proving she was the victim of third-party contamination. Harris, a 32-year-old from Winnipeg who was ruled inelgible to play hours before last month’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary kicked off, is looking to do the same as her lawyers maintain she was unknowingly exposed to the substance through bodily contact.

“I feel sad for her,” said Vincent Lapointe in an interview with the Free Press.

“I know (Curling Canada) said they do really good anti-doping courses and everything and I also went through those courses… You think ‘Oh, it won’t happen to me because I’m clean and I’m a good athlete.’ But once it happens to you, you’re like ‘Oh my god, where did that come from?’ And if you find out or don’t find out, no matter what, afterwards you never feel safe again and to me that was one of the major things that made me stop (competing).”

“Once it happens to you, you’re like ‘Oh my god, where did that come from?’ And if you find out or don’t find out, no matter what, afterwards you never feel safe again and to me that was one of the major things that made me stop (competing).”–Laurence Vincent Lapointe

Vincent Lapointe was in utter disbelief when her drug test was flagged.

“I was so in shock that in my mind, I thought it was one of those old prank shows that was happening,” said Vincent Lapointe, a 13-time world champion.

She went to extreme limits to be careful. For example, if someone gave her a bottle of water at a race, she would decline and go get one herself to avoid any possible risk of contamination or tampering.

She did take a few supplements, but they were safe as they were recommended by a nutrionist at the national training centre.

Harris said in a statement on Tuesday that she doesn’t take any supplements and even hesitates to take medication like Advil and Tylenol.

Vincent Lapointe had no answers, but desperately needed to find one.

She passed a polygraph, but that didn’t matter. She recalls her lawyer warning her that if they can’t find the direct cause for how Ligandrol accidentally got into her system that the best-case scenario would likely be getting the sentence cut down to two years. Her only hope of getting the suspension erased was to find out the direct cause and to prove it was incidental.

Easier said than done.

Vincent Lapointe sent her supplements, as well as food samples from places she had eaten at the week leading up to her test to a lab to see if anything would turn up. As expected, they all came back negative.

“We were looking for this crazy needle in a haystack,” said Vincent Lapointe.

Soon after, she caught a break. A forensic researcher from France came across her story and recommended he test her hair. Those who continuously use Ligandrol will have contaminated hair. If you’re exposed to Ligandrol — which is something that can be transferred through bodily fluids like saliva and sweat — through a small contamination, your hair will likely test negative.

Vincent Lapointe chopped off some locks, sent it over, and passed.

Her now ex-boyfriend had his hair tested, too, and it came back positive.

He finally admitted to consuming a product containing a significant amount of Ligandrol that a teammate on his rec soccer team suggested he try.

Vincent Lapointe’s appeal hearing was in Switzerland and her ex appeared virtually to explain he was to blame.

“I really hope she’s able to prove her innocence, but no matter what, it’s going to stay (with her).”–Laurence Vincent Lapointe

“Imagine the most angry you’ve ever been in your life but also the most relieved,” said Vincent Lapointe.

Her suspension was lifted in January 2020 and she went back to training with her teammates immediately. The pandemic pushed the Olympics to 2021 and Vincent Lapointe won silver in the women’s C-1 200-metre race and bronze in the C-2 500-metre.

Harris’s legal counsel plan to file an appeal by the end of next week. The curler is hoping to have things resolved as soon as possible as her big goal is to represent Canada at the 2026 Olympics in Italy. The Canadian Curling Trials take place Nov. 2025 in Halifax.

Vincent Lapointe, now a student at the University of Montreal, won in the end, but it’s hard to shake what happened.

“It’s been four years, and I haven’t dated again. I know I’m not an athlete anymore, but it’s hard to trust,” said Vincent Lapointe.

“I really hope she’s able to prove her innocence, but no matter what, it’s going to stay (with her).”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31