Milan Mozgi has been banned for four years ©ICF

Double European canoe sprint champion Milan Mozgi has been given a four-year ban after he tested positive for the prohibited substance erythropoietin.

The 20-year-old Hungarian failed a drugs test on June 26 and his suspension has been backdated to August 7.

It means he can keep the gold medal he won as part of the K2 500m crew at the European Championships in Belgrade as the event took place in early June.

The suspension also rules him out of competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the next two World Championships - the first of which is scheduled to be held in Hungary in 2019 -  as he will not be free to return to competition until August 2022.

Milan Mozgi has been ruled out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the next two Canoe Sprint World Championships ©Széchenyi István University
Milan Mozgi has been ruled out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the next two Canoe Sprint World Championships ©Széchenyi István University

Mozgi also claimed gold in the men’s K4 team at the 2017 European Championships, held in Plovdiv in Bulgaria.

In a statement, the International Canoe Federation confirmed the sanction, handed down by the Hungarian Anti-Doping Group.

"Mozgi tested positive to synthetic erythropoietin, or EPO, following a test carried out on June 26 this year," the ICF statement read.

"Mozgi was a member of the K2-500 crew that won gold at the European Canoe Sprint Championships in early June. 

"That result will stand as the positive test came later that month in an out-of-competition test."