Polish cross-country skier Kornelia Marek tested positive for EPO following the women’s 4x5km relay at the Olympics, according to the Polish Olympic Committee. The Poles finished an impressive 6th in that event, and Marek also placed 11th in the 30km and 9th in the team sprint.
The 30km result was the best of her career, easily besting a 23rd earlier this winter in Estonia. She also finished 26th in Canmore, but the fields for both those races was weak – especially in Estonia.
Those were the only two races that the 25-year-old has ever cracked the top-30 on the World Cup.
Her B-sample will be tested next week.
3 comments
Cloxxki
March 13, 2010 at 6:11 am
That’s not good.
At the recent Cyclo-Cross -23 Worlds, the #1 and #2, Polish brothers both tesed positive for EPO as well.
Are the Polish like 10 years behind in doping regimes? Did they not get the memo that people get caught for this stuff? If you perform well, you will be tested just like real winners.
Perhaps Kowalckzyk’s extreme talent and success are making her fellow coutrywomen forced to somehow keep up.
Martin Hall
March 13, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Anyone know why Kowalczyk did not start the 30km in Oslo—she was in Drammen on Thursday and made the A final, placing 6th. You don’t miss the 30 in Oslo—-she has been in about every race this winter—did she finally get the “I don’t want to be tested right now flu” or does she just have enough money for the year and doesn’t need to race. She is at 295,000CH which is just a little over $$300,000 US or Canadian—that should hold her until next fall when they start racing again. Yepper! that’s just her FIS winnings—you can double that with all her other contracts and Olympic medals. It makes you shake your head, as she has just missed one sprint in Dusseldorf back in December—and has been in the top 10, 20 times out of 24 until today when she didn’t show up. Oh, her Olympic record wasn’t too shabby eithe—did 5 out of the 6 races—won a gold and a bronze. Oh well—surprise me with the answer.
donpollari
March 14, 2010 at 12:24 am
Training volume 1200 hours this year, hmm…