In-Competition vs Out-of-Competition: WADA's Cannabis Rule

WADA's Exact Definition

The 2026 WADA Prohibited List defines the in-competition period as "commencing at 11:59 p.m. on the day before a Competition in which the Athlete is scheduled to participate, through to the end of that Competition and the Sample collection process." The same definition has applied across recent code cycles. Under WADA's Section S8, cannabinoids are prohibited in-competition only; out-of-competition cannabis use is not a violation under the WADA Code.

The legal framework is therefore binary: either an athlete's sample was collected during the in-competition window, or it was not. The pharmacokinetics, however, are not binary. THC-COOH persistence runs days to weeks, which means that an athlete who used cannabis legitimately out-of-competition can still be reported with an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) when sampled in-competition. This pages exists because that gap between the law and the chemistry is, per the underlying research literature, the single most-misunderstood concept in athlete cannabis policy.

The Sha'Carri Richardson Case Prohibited in-competition

The canonical example is Sha'Carri Richardson's 2021 Olympic Trials. On June 19, 2021, Richardson won the women's 100m at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, in 10.86 seconds. USADA collected her post-race urine. She had used cannabis in Oregon — a legal-recreational state — following news of her biological mother's death, which had been delivered to her by a reporter. Her cannabis use was lawful under Oregon law and, taken in isolation, would not have been a violation under WADA had she not been tested in-competition.

USADA announced the 30-day suspension on July 2, 2021. On July 6, 2021, USA Track & Field released the Olympic roster without Richardson, declining to use a discretionary 4×100 relay slot on her even though her suspension would have ended August 5. USADA CEO Travis Tygart's statement called the WADA rule "must change," while emphasizing strict-liability obligations. The case is the cleanest illustration in modern anti-doping of how out-of-competition use can produce in-competition consequences. See Sha'Carri Richardson for the full timeline.

Window Math: When Out-of-Comp Is Actually Safe

Whether an out-of-competition cannabis use will still produce an in-competition AAF depends almost entirely on dose, frequency, and the days between use and sample. The general guidance, derived from clinical pharmacokinetic studies and aligned with the protocols used by athletes like ultra-runner Avery Collins:

• Light or occasional users — THC-COOH typically falls below 150 ng/mL within several days to two weeks of last use. A 2–3 week buffer before competition is usually sufficient at the WADA threshold.
• Moderate-to-heavy daily users — can remain above 150 ng/mL for three to six weeks. A 4–6 week washout is the conservative protocol; Avery Collins's documented 5-week buffer has held up across multiple WADA-protocol post-race tests.
• NFL athletes (350 ng/mL) — the higher threshold gives a wider out-of-competition margin, particularly given the league's ~2-week training-camp testing window.

Body composition and weight management matter. Athletes with rapid weight cuts, multi-day caloric deficits, or fasted training in the run-up to competition can experience delayed urinary THC-COOH spikes from THC stored in adipose tissue (Wong et al., Drug Testing and Analysis, 2013) — turning a should-be-clean out-of-competition use into an in-competition positive. See Washout Protocols for the operational guidance.

Who Actually Uses In-Competition-Only Testing

The WADA in-competition-only framework governs every Olympic and Paralympic federation, the World Athletics calendar, the IFSC (climbing), the UCI (cycling), most international combat-sports federations, and U.S. Olympic-pipeline events tested by USADA. MLS follows the WADA framework because of its FIFA affiliation. Pre-2024 NCAA championship testing operated on the same in-competition logic; the June 25, 2024 D-I removal ended postseason testing. The NFL's training-camp window functions as a discrete testing event rather than a continuous in-competition framework, but the practical consequence is similar.

Out-of-competition testing of athletes in the WADA Registered Testing Pool covers many other prohibited substances year-round, but cannabis is not among them. WADA explicitly removed cannabinoids from the year-round prohibition decades ago, and that policy structure has not changed.

Strict Liability Still Applies

Under Article 2.1.1 of the WADA Code, athletes are responsible for any prohibited substance found in their bodies regardless of intent. The in-competition definition does not loosen strict liability; it only defines the window during which the prohibition applies. An out-of-competition cannabis use that produces an in-competition AAF is fully attributable to the athlete — even if the use itself was legal under state or country law. See TUEs and Strict Liability for the broader framework, including the rare medical-TUE pathway and the Brittney Griner case where Arizona medical certification did not protect her overseas.