Disgraced coach Salazar lodges ban appeal with top sports court

Alberto Salazar has appealed to CAS over his 4-year ban for doping offences [Courtesy]

Disgraced running coach Alberto Salazar has lodged an appeal against a four-year ban for doping offences, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced on Monday.

Jeffrey Brown, a Texas endocrinologist who treated many of Salazar's athletes at Nike's Oregon Project training hub in Portland, has also appealed against his suspension.

CAS said it has "registered the appeals" against decisions rendered by the American Arbitration Association, North American Court of Arbitration for Sport Panel "in which they were found to have committed anti-doping rule violations and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility."

CAS said two arbitration procedures had been opened and both men had requested more time to prepare their case.

"At this stage, it appears that the hearings in these two matters are unlikely to take place before March 2020," said CAS.

Salazar's doping offences include trafficking testosterone, tampering with the doping control process, and administering illicit infusions of the fat-burning substance, L-carnitine.

He denies any wrongdoing.

Last month Nike, which backed Salazar after his suspension by the US Anti-Doping Agency announced it was shutting down the Oregon Project.

Mark Parker, who at the time was Nike chief executive but has since stepped aside, said when Salazar's ban was announced that the company would still support the coach, best known for coaching Britain's four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah, in his appeal.