London: Former world 100m record holder Tim Montgomery was banned for two years on Tuesday for doping offences related to the Balco laboratory in California.

The Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said its three-man panel unanimously accepted evidence presented by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that Montgomery had taken banned substances provided by Balco.

Montgomery, 30, the estranged partner of triple Olympic champion Marion Jones, is the highest-profile track and field athlete to be banned as a result of the Balco scandal.

Chryste Gaines, a member of the US women’s 4x100m gold medal-winning team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, was also banned for two years. Both suspensions start from June 6 this year, the opening day of the CAS hearings.

The bans are the result of a new USADA rule, which allow doping suspensions even if there is no positive test.

Three other US sprinters ? double world sprint champion Kelli White, Alvin Harrison and Michelle Collins ? have already been suspended for so-called non-analytical positives.

CAS also ruled that all Montgomery’s results from March 31, 2001, the date from which he admitted taking drugs, should be annulled and his earnings confiscated.

Montgomery won $100,000 alone for finishing as the overall Grand Prix champion after he set his then world record of 9.78 seconds at the 2002 Paris grand prix final.