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27 June 2025
The ITA reports, on behalf of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and the International Canoe Federation (ICF), that the athlete Remigiusz Nowaczyk has been sanctioned with a 3-month period of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) under article 2.1 of the ICF Anti-Doping Rules (ICF ADR).
The sample of the athlete was collected on 17 September 2022 in Bydgoszcz (Poland) during an in-competition anti-doping control at the 2022 FISU World University Championship Canoe Sprint¹ and yielded an adverse analytical finding² for the prohibited substance cocaine.
Cocaine is prohibited under the WADA Prohibited List in the category of S6. Stimulants. It is prohibited in-competition only and is classified as a non-specified substance. Cocaine may also be qualified as a substance of abuse.³
The athlete did not challenge his ADRV and established that the conditions of Article 10.2.4.1 of the ICF ADR⁴ are met. Pursuant to Article 8.3.3 of the ICF ADR and FISU Anti-Doping Rules, the ITA issued a sanctioning decision⁵ imposing the applicable consequences, namely a period of ineligibility of three months as from 5 May 2025 until 4 August 2025. The athlete’s individual results obtained during the 2022 FISU World University Championship Canoe Sprint between 16 to 18 September 2022 are also disqualified as well as all competitive results obtained afterwards. The results obtained by the team/crew on 17 September 2022 during the C2 Men 200m of the 2022 FISU World University Championship Canoe Sprint are also disqualified pursuant to Article 11.2.2 of the ICF ADR.
The decision is subject to appeal before the appeals division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in accordance with Article 13.2.3 of the ICF ADR.
The ITA will not comment further on this case.
¹ The matter was first processed by the ITA on behalf of FISU for a determination on the ADRV and consequences related to the event. In turn, the ICF is the Results Management Authority for consequences beyond the FISU World University Championship Canoe Sprint, which shall be determined under the ICF ADR.
² A report from a WADA-accredited laboratory that, consistent with the International Standard for Laboratories, establishes in a sample the presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers or evidence of the use of a prohibited method.
³ The WADA Prohibited List defines Substance of Abuse as follows: “Pursuant to Article 4.2.3 of the Code, Substances of Abuse are substances that are identified as such because they are frequently abused in society outside of the context of sport. The following are designated Substances of Abuse: cocaine, diamorphine (heroin), methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA/”ecstasy”), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)”.
⁴ Pursuant to Article 10.2.4.1 of the ICF ADR, athletes may benefit from the Substance of Abuse regime if they establish three cumulative conditions: (a) how the prohibited substance entered their system and resulted in an adverse analytical finding, (b) that the use of the prohibited substance was out-of-competition, and (c) that the use of the prohibited substance was unrelated to sport performance.
⁵ When an athlete does not challenge the assertion of an ADRV and does not request a hearing, anti-doping organisations have the possibility to issue a written decision sanctioning the athlete and imposing the applicable consequences without having to refer the case to a hearing panel. This is provided in articles 8.3.2 and 8.3.3 of the ICF ADR and article 8.3 of the World Anti-Doping Code.
