The 33-year-old was handed a three-month ban after testing positive for Benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, earlier this year

A Welsh marathon runner was banned after returning a positive drug test.

Josh Griffiths was given a three-month ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit after Benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, appeared in his system following May's Belfast City Marathon. The ban ran from June 19 to September 18 - meaning the 33-year-old has already served it.

All of his results from May 3 onwards have been disqualified, with any prize money forfeited.

Griffiths, who represented Great Britain at the 2017 and 2022 Worlds and ran for Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, denied ever taking cocaine or any other social drug.

He could not prove how cocaine entered his system, but in their ruling the AIU accepted that any ingestion was both out of competition and "unrelated to sport".

Following the findings, Griffiths accepted the anti-doping rule violation and the sanction.

Griffiths had finished as the fastest Briton as a club runner in the 2017 London Marathon, earning him a spot in the GB squad for that year's World Championship.

Having turned professional following that initial success, he would go on to finish eighth in the 2021 London Marathon.

In its report, the AIU noted that Griffiths described it as "absolutely impossible" when informed of the initial adverse finding in his sample, with the athlete insisting "there must have been a mistake".

Benzoylecgonine, which appears in the body when cocaine is metabolised, was detected in both urine samples he provided following the Belfast marathon.

Griffiths supplied details of his movements and location in the run-up to the 3 May race, along with his accommodation at the official race hotel, emphasising he did not participate in any social gatherings, drink any alcohol and that interactions had been predominantly with fellow athletes and race personnel.

At a subsequent hearing, he restated that he had never knowingly consumed cocaine and was unaware of anyone in his circle using the substance in the period before the Belfast race.

Griffiths presented scientific evidence to substantiate his assertion that any ingestion occurred out of competition, something the AIU subsequently accepted.