During a world swimming titles campaign highlighted by Mack Horton’s anti-doping stance, Australia’s Shayna Jack has tested positive for a banned substance.

After initially claiming she had left the world titles team for “personal reasons”, the 20-year-old had failed a routine out-of-competition drug test at a training camp in Japan a fortnight ago, Swimming Australia said on Saturday.

“Swimming Australia tonight confirmed that swimmer Shayna Jack has been notified by Asada of an adverse test result following a routine out-of-competition drug test conducted by Asada testers on 26 June, 2019,” a statement said.

“Once Swimming Australia was made aware of the adverse test result, it immediately took action – in accordance with the national policy – to provisionally suspend Shayna from the Australian swim team while a process was under way and accompanied her back to Australia from a training camp being held in Japan.

“The Swimming Australia policy also means that any Australian athlete under provisional suspension, while Asada investigations are under way, cannot take part in any competition, meaning Shayna was unable to travel to Gwangju to compete at the 2019 World Championships.”

Jack also confirmed the positive test on Instagram but said she did not “knowingly” take a banned substance.

“It is with great sadness and heartache that I had to leave due to allegations of having a prohibited substance in my system,” she posted.

“I did NOT take this substance knowingly. Swimming has been my passion since I was 10 years old and I would never intentionally take a banned substance that would disrespect my sport and jeopardise my career.

“Now there is an ongoing investigation and my team and I are doing everything we can to find out when and how this substance has come into contact with my body.”

While confirming the failed test, Swimming Australia could not provide any more details about the results.

Australian head coach Jacco Verhaeren has not been made available to the media.

“Under the process, all details are required to remain confidential until Asada has completed its investigations, the athlete is afforded due process and an outcome determined,” the statement said.

But Swimming Australia did confirm that Dolphins team members had no knowledge of Jack’s positive test.

News of Jack’s failed test comes near the end of a world titles campaign in which Horton has caused international headlines for his anti-doping stand against China’s Sun Yang.

Horton refused to join Sun on the podium after the Chinese star relegated him to 400m freestyle silver, sparking an international furore.

Swimmers were angry Sun had been allowed to contest the titles ahead of a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing in September which might end the 11-time world champion’s career.

Eyebrows were raised when Jack withdrew from the Dolphins’ squad just days before the world titles started.

“It is with great sadness that I have to withdraw from world championships due to personal reasons” she posted on Instagram at the time.

“I appreciate everyone’s support and patience. Thank you all.”

Swimming Australia officials refused to elaborate on the reason behind Jack’s departure at the time.

“We are not exactly sure. She left the team which we are obviously very disappointed about but she has left for personal reasons,” Dolphins assistant Michael Bohl said before the titles.

The topic of doping in swimming has been a focal point in sport since last week, when Australian Mack Horton refused to take the podium for a medal presentation with controversial Chinese swimmer Sun Yang.

In a parting shot at his critics, Yang dismissed rivals Mack Horton and Duncan Scott as “haters” and described himself as a champion of athletes’ rights.

Sun finally drew the curtain on an incident-packed world swimming titles campaign when he contested the 4x200m freestyle relay on Friday night.

The triple Olympic champion couldn’t resist a final dig before leaving Gwangju, dismissing his rivals’ stance and crediting his “strong mental approach” for his two-gold haul.

“There are millions of swimmers in the world. A couple of guys won’t influence me,” the 200m and 400m gold medallist said.

“I don’t want to get into a fight with those haters. Mack will then just answer back and the whole thing escalates and turns into a tit-for-tat.”



Yang faces a lifetime ban if found guilty of charges that he smashed vials of his blood with a hammer in a clash with testers last year.

Australia’s Olympic champion Horton sparked an international furore when he opted not to join Sun on the podium after the Chinese star relegated him to 400m freestyle silver.

And the controversy exploded when Briton Duncan Scott also did not acknowledge the Chinese champion after the 200m freestyle final, prompting an angry Sun to call the Briton a “loser” in front of TV cameras.

However, Sun claimed he was standing up for other athletes during the now-infamous clash with testers last September.

Sun, who served a doping ban in 2014, objected to the out-of-competition test at his Zhejiang home because he questioned the officials’ credentials.

Fina opted not to punish Sun amid claims the testers had not shown adequate identification but the World Anti-Doping Agency lodged an appeal to CAS.

But Sun claimed the incident indicated he was on the athletes’ side.

“I think FINA has already made a statement to say that I didn’t break any rules and I obeyed all the rules and what I did is to defend the rights of all athletes because if someone is not qualified to take blood, who knows what can happen,” he said.

“So what I did was to defend the rights of every athlete.

“What I say happened is proven and nothing I’ve said is fake. I have defended myself and I won’t tolerate any disrespect from other athletes.”