Blake Leeper’s suspension will stand and will run until June 20, 2017 ©Getty Images

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the US Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) settlement with double Paralympic sprint medallist Blake Leeper, and has ruled that his two-year suspension handed down by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) is final.

As a result, Leeper’s suspension will stand and will run until June 20, 2017, making him ineligible to compete at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games this September.

Leeper returned an adverse analytical finding for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in a urine sample provided on June 21, 2015 at the US Paralympic Track & Field National Championships.

This substance is included on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list.

The case was originally heard by the AAA, which suspended Leeper for two years, starting from the date of his failure.

However, Leeper and USADA claimed to have reached a subsequent settlement agreement that, on the basis of mitigating circumstances, reduced his sanction to just one year.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) ruled that this ruling did not conform to their anti-doping code, at which stage the athlete went to CAS.

Blake Leeper returned an adverse analytical finding for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in a urine sample provided in June of last year ©Getty Images
Blake Leeper returned an adverse analytical finding for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in a urine sample provided in June of last year ©Getty Images

Awaiting the CAS decision, the IPC agreed with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to allow the athlete to compete this summer in various events that were scheduled after his provisional one-year ban had ended.

This decision was taken for the sole purpose of safeguarding the athlete’s right to compete in Rio, should the CAS have upheld his appeal.

The CAS has now dismissed this, however, stating that the IPC has no obligation to recognise the subsequent settlement agreement that was agreed by Leeper and USADA.

The dismissal of his CAS appeal leaves in place the original AAA decision, along with his two-year suspension from competition.

Following this decision, all results obtained by Leeper since 20 June of this year are nullified. 

He will be eligible to return to competition on June 21 of next year. 

In addition, Leeper has been ordered to make a contribution towards the legal fees and expenses incurred by the IPC in connection with the CAS arbitration proceedings.

Twenty-six-year-old Leeper won silver and bronze medals at the London 2012 Paralympics, in the T43 400 metres and 200m respectively.

He won the world title in the 4x100 metres T42-46 in Lyon in 2013.