Erriyon Knighton was nowhere in the picture to fly to Paris as part of Team USA even two months ago. But now, we smirk as the 20-year-old just became national teammates with Noah Lyles.

In the men’s 200m final race at the US Track and Field Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon, the Hayward Field saw Knighton secure a narrow third-place finish while veteran runner Christian Coleman came in behind the young Turk. According to the official USATF website, Erriyon’s 19.77-second finish is his season’s best performance.

Now, while the UADA and the WADA (the USA’s and the global anti-doping governing bodies) continue to haggle about whether Erriyon has served his time or has been meted the right kind of punishment for the banned substance that was found in his blood sample in March this year, the 2023 World Championships silver medalist sets his gaze at the biggest prize of them all.

However, while the controversy is yet to be put to bed, Knighton’s abilities have become quite the sensation across the track community in recent years, considering how he dishes out mouth-watering performances on a regular basis. Three years ago, the same Hayward Field was witness to one of Erriyon’s biggest highlights of his career so far.

At the 2021 Olympic Team Trials, Knighton ran the men’s 200m race in a spectacular 19.88 seconds. His time broke Usain Bolt’s U20 world record, making track connoisseurs take note of the teenager who burst into the scene with such an emphatic display of his arsenal. However, with the young Turk choosing to opt out of several meets in 2024 made many fans speculate about the possibility of seeing him setting the tracks on fire at the Team Trials.

While the WADA and the USDA seem to have voiced similar opinions about Erriyon’s Paris journey, it hasn’t been always the case of late.

Erriyon Knighton isn’t alone in his troubles

Only days ago, the USA’s top swimming stars including Michael Phelps visited Capitol Hill to express their dissatisfaction about how the WADA cleared 21 Chinese swimmers to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics despite all of them failing the drug test seven months earlier. Travis Tygart, the CEO of USDA, also extended his sympathies to the American swimmers who missed out on their chance of a podium finish in Japan because of the WADA’s lackluster way of handling the Chinese scandal.

On the other hand, Knighton isn’t the only star in the American contingent who will be coming out of a doping scandal before this year’s Olympic Games. Sha’Carri Richardson, the reigning world champion sprinter was also barred from the last Games because her blood sample tested positive for marijuana. However, Richardson secured her place in Team USA earlier this week as she scooped the world lead in the women’s 100m race, highlighting her intentions to set the record straight once and for all.

Hurdle specialist Grant Holloway and Penn State’s wrestler Aaron Brooks have also faced ban threats in the months ahead of the Paris Olympics, but have successfully trounced the speculations to get their names on the national team headed to the French capital at the end of July. But will the cacophony inside these athletes’ heads take a toll on their performances on the big stage? We’ll have to wait for the answer.