Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson have doping bans cut
The doping bans of Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson have been reduced from 18 months to six months meaning the Jamaican sprinters are free to compete.
The pair each received an 18-month suspension following their positive tests for the banned stimulant oxilofrine at the Jamaican Championships in June 2013.
They submitted appeals over the length of their bans and on Monday the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled it had upheld "in part" those appeals.
"The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld in part the appeals filed by the Jamaican sprinters Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson against the decisions of the Jamaica Anti-doping disciplinary panel imposing a suspension of 18 months on both of them, starting on 21 June 2013," read a statement on the court's website.
"The CAS decided to reduce their period of ineligibility to six months, which has been already served."
Former world 100m record holder Powell and Simpson, who won 4x100m relay gold in 2004 and relay silver at London 2012, had been allowed to return to competitive action last month as the CAS agreed to a "stay of the execution" which meant they could compete ahead of their hearings.
Both Powell and Simpson are due to compete later today in Lucerne.
The appeals have been upheld "in part" as the sprinters had requested that their suspensions be reduced to three months.
The CAS statement continued: "Both athletes filed appeals at CAS against their 18-month suspension. They put forward that the offense committed was minor because it was caused by contamination of the food supplement "Epiphany D1" by the banned substance Oxilofrine and requested that the suspensions be reduced to three months."
Writing on Twitter, Powell said: "Finally this weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Justice has been served. Now let's run!"
