Sabina Allen is the first athlete to be sanctioned through the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act ©Getty Images

Sabina Allen has been sentenced to a four-year period of ineligibility by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after testing positive for two banned substances, in a case which is the first example of an athlete being banned in part through the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (RADA).

The legislation, named after former head of Moscow's anti-doping laboratory turned whistle-blower Grigory Rodchenkov, allows the US to prosecute individuals for doping schemes at international sports competitions involving American athletes, broadcasters and sponsors.

Jamaican long and triple jumper Allen tested positive for appetite suppressant phentermine and di-hydroxy-LGD-4033, which provides the therapeutic benefits of anabolic androgenic steroids.

Traces of the substances were found in an in-competition urine sample taken at the Chula Vista Field Festival in California on May 29 2021, where she placed first in the triple jump event.

Information supplied to USADA by law-enforcement agencies relating to the RADA prosecution of Eric Lira has been credited with leading to Allen's positive test and ban.

Her period of ineligibility began on June 24 last year, when she was first suspended, and will expire on June 23 2025.

The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act was named after Grigory Rodchenkov, who was at the heart of the Russian state-run doping programme before exposing it ©Getty Images
The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act was named after Grigory Rodchenkov, who was at the heart of the Russian state-run doping programme before exposing it ©Getty Images

"The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act is designed to facilitate information-sharing and allow organisations from around the world to better expose networks of conspirators working against clean sport, which is exactly what happened in this case," said USADA chief executive Travis Tygart.

"Information shared by law enforcement from the first RADA case involving Eric Lira allowed USADA to expose the truth in this case.

"We thank the FBI, US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and other federal agencies for their continued work to protect the integrity of sport under RADA."

USADA handled the results management as 27-year-old Allen lives, trains, competes, and tested positive in the US.

Allen was present at an evidentiary hearing where she was given the opportunity to plead her innocence.

However, an independent arbitrator from the American Arbitration Association concluded that Allen's "varied explanations for the positive result for phentermine failed to establish that her use was unintentional."

RADA is a controversial piece of legislation and the World Anti-Doping Agency has expressed concern it will undermine the global fight for clean sport by unilaterally exerting US criminal jurisdiction over all doping activity.