Date set for sprinter drug Hearings

The future of sprinters Tim Montgomery and Chryste Gaines will be decided within the next few weeks after the Court of Arbitration set a date for their drug offence hearings.

Montgomery, the 100 metres world record holder, and Gaines, a three-time sprint relay world champion, are scheduled to appear at the hearings on November 1 in San Francisco.

Both could face lifetime bans after being charged by the United States Anti-doping Agency with involvement in performance-enhancing drugs, in connection with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO).

Both sprinters went directly to the CAS - whose decision is final without recourse to appeal - after declining arbitration through the USADA. BALCO founder Victor Conte and three others face federal charges for steroid trafficking and money laundering.