Her Rio Olympics dreams are in jeopardy and her 2013 world championship relay teammates could have their silver medals stripped.
There's a lot riding on Olympic gold medallist Kylie Palmer achieving what she concedes is almost impossible - discovering how she came to test positive to a tiny quantity of a banned drug almost two years ago.
Palmer has withdrawn from the Australian team for next month's world championships in Russia after accepting a provisional suspension pending a tribunal hearing, having only been told of the positive test in April.
The alleged doping offence stems from a test taken at the 2013 world titles in Barcelona, where she won a 4x200m freestyle relay silver medal with Bronte Barratt, Brittany Elmslie and Alicia Coutts.
Swimming Australia (SA) said on Thursday Palmer tested positive to a "minute trace of a prohibited substance".
The 25-year-old Queensland middle distance star has said she's confounded as to how it came about.
"Kylie has been endeavouring to investigate how this arose, a task that is almost impossible given the extraordinary passage of time," Australian Swimmers' Association (ASA) general manager Daniel Kowalski said in a statement on Palmer's behalf.
"Kylie categorically denies knowingly taking any prohibited substance in Barcelona in July 2013 or at any time in her career."
Neither SA nor the ASA were disclosing what the substance involved was.
It's understood that world swimming governing body FINA did not initially act on the test results because the amount of the substance was so small.
But world anti-doping authority WADA stepped in after reviewing cases from the 2013 world championships and urged FINA to take it up.
It's a delay which, SA says, renders the case extremely problematic for Palmer.
"Suffice to say that clearly we have been concerned about the length of time that it's taken, and we've expressed our concern to FINA," SA CEO Mark Anderson said.
"This event did occur back in 2013, so we are all very mindful of the difficulties that creates for all parties."
Anderson said Palmer was "shocked" on receiving the notification from FINA, but was handling the issue as well as possible.
He could not provide a time-frame on FINA's tribunal hearing nor clarity on how long a potential ban would be, as her legal team works directly with FINA.
Palmer, who won gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver in London 2012, had her sights set on competing in a third and perhaps final Games in Rio next year.
But more than her own career is at stake if she's found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation.
Under FINA rules, Palmer's 2013 relay team would be disqualified and all would lose their medals.
The news follows Australian head coach Jacco Verhaeren's recent concern that a "lack of transparency" in FINA's anti-doping program had caused elite swimmers and coaches to lose faith in the system.
Verhaeren is working to find a replacement for Palmer in the world championship team, which had already lost dual world champion James Magnussen to shoulder surgery.
Two young Australian swimmers are currently serving two-year drug sanctions - freestyle sprinter Sam Flint and butterflier Calum Timms.
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