EPO – FasterSkier.com

WADA’s 2016 Anti-Doping Testing Figures Through the Lens of Nordic Sport

Jason AlbertNovember 23, 2017

according to WADA, indicates that “while there may not be an adverse analytical finding, there may be some suspicion according to the results and that further analysis or investigation should be conducted.” After an ATF is investigated, it could lead to a negative result (the suspicion was not warranted), an AAF (something was found), or it may be canceled. WADA stresses that in reading and interpreting 2016 Anti-Doping testing Figures report, “one single result does...

Biathlon Doping News Racing

Taschlers, Ferrari Sentenced in High-Profile Biathlon Doping Case

Chelsea LittleApril 4, 2017

In the penultimate chapter of a doping story which began nearly two and a half years ago, Italian biathlon relay World Champion Gottlieb Taschler and his son Daniel, an IBU Cup-level competitor, CyclingNews.com reports. “Prosecutors believe they included instructions on how to take EPO and details of secret telephone numbers where Dr. Ferrari could be contacted. Taschler had pushed his son to work with Dr. Ferrari as a way to boost his athletic career.” The elder Taschler...

Biathlon Doping News Racing

Starykh and Loginov Return to International Competition

Chelsea LittleDecember 27, 2016

The Russian rosters for January competition will include two names not seen in a while: Irina Starykh and Alexander Loginov. Both are returning to international competition after serving suspensions for using the blood-doping drug erythropoietin (EPO). Irina Starykh Makes a Fast Return Starykh Starykh failed an out-of-competition test in December 2013 month along with teammate Ekaterina Iourieva. 2013-2014 had been a breakout season for her so far. When asked how she had improved so much by a Russian...

Doping News Olympics Racing World Cup

The Curious Case of Legkov and the 33 Other Skiers in the McLaren Report (Updated)

Chelsea LittleDecember 19, 2016

Note: this article has been updated to include more accurate information about Alexander Legkov’s participation at 2014 Russian Championships. At least 34 skiers are referred to in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s McLaren report, including one by name: Alexander Legkov, the 2014 Olympic champion in the 50 kilometer skate. Throughout the report’s evidentiary documents, names of athletes were scrubbed and replaced with alpha-numeric codes. But in one set of emails leaked by Grigory Rodchenkov, Legkov’s name is...

Doping General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Shaw on Latest McLaren Report: ‘Shocked’ But Adamant to See Justice Served

Chelsea LittleDecember 9, 2016

While reporting regarding systematic doping by Russian teams has been building up for several years, like meldonium, is a metabolic modulator which combats angina. Another athlete tested positive for “phthalates”, plasticizers which are sometimes used in IV bags and are often assumed to indicate blood transfusions. They are also, however, present in other kinds of packaging. In all of these cases the results were reported to WADA’s anti-doping test management system, ADAMS, as negative tests:...

Biathlon General News Olympics World Cup

Dear WADA: The Nordic World Needs Answers

Chelsea LittleMay 19, 2016

For Throwback Thursday, we're reposting a November editorial calling for WADA to investigate doping in winter sports and irregularities at the Sochi Olympics. How many of our questions have been answered in the last six months?

General News Racing World Cup

Four-Year Ban For Wurm, Who Admits Doping; Used Cobalt to Boost Performance

Chelsea LittleMarch 26, 2016

Austrian skier and former U23 World Champion Harald Wurm has been suspended from competition for four years, effectively ending the 31-year-old's career. He seems to have been using cobalt, which is highly effective at promoting the production of red blood cells when it is inhaled (much like xenon or argon).

Biathlon General News Racing

IBU Hands Down Doping Bans for Three Russians in Re-Testing Cases

Chelsea LittleJuly 13, 2015

Ekaterina Iourieva will serve a four-year ban on top of the eight-year ban she is already serving; Irina Starykh will see one year added to her existing two-year ban. Both had already tested positive on other occasions. First-time offender Alexander Loginov has been banned for two years, ending in November 2016.

Biathlon Racing

Sednev Case Concludes with Two-Year Ban, 22 Months of DQed Results

Chelsea LittleApril 27, 2015

Although he got away with it the first time, Ukraine's Sergui Sednev did not try to fight the IBU when it re-tested a sample almost two years old and found that it contained EPO. The biathlete was banned for two years, and his results since January 2013 will be scrubbed.

Biathlon General News Racing

Sednev’s Doping Suspension Leaves Uneasiness in the Biathlon Community

Chelsea LittleJanuary 13, 2015

Sergui Sednev of Ukraine is the latest athlete to be caught in the International Biathlon Union's re-testing of suspicious anti-doping samples from seasons past. At stake are two seasons' worth of results. All of the old samples have now been tested, but it's unclear whether more suspensions are still to come - a month passed between the analytical result in Sednev's case and the release of his name.

Biathlon General News Olympics Racing World Cup

Breaking: WADA To Launch Major Investigation of Russian Doping Allegations

Chelsea LittleDecember 10, 201421

A transcript (find a link inside) of the German documentary which exposed systematic doping in Russia reveals an even worse situation than imagined: how easy it is to purchase cheap EPO without a prescription; how Russian officials threaten that any athlete who goes to the press might "have an accident". Plus, we talk to Lowell Bailey, Nathan Smith, and Max Cobb about the situation.

Biathlon General News Olympics Racing World Cup

German Documentary Alleges Widespread Doping, Cover-Ups in Russia

Alex KochonDecember 4, 20142

Hajo Seppelt's documentary on ARD talks to multiple whistleblowers within Russian sports, and discovers not only widespread systematic doping - to an extent comparable to the old East Germany - but regular procedures to cover up positive tests, as well as strange financial arrangements.

Biathlon General News Racing

Russian Biathlete Loginov’s Sample from November 2013 Is Positive for EPO

Chelsea LittleNovember 28, 20141

A November, 2013, urine sample belonging to Russian biathlete Alexander Loginov has tested positive for EPO using a new technique. Since the test, Loginov - a double World Junior Champion - competed in the Olympics and had several World Cup podiums, including when he was second and American Lowell Bailey third in Kontiolahti.

Biathlon General News Racing

Starykh Banned for Two Years; Claims EPO Was in Cosmetic Injections of Human Placenta

Chelsea LittleJuly 18, 20146

The International Biathlon Union has finally announced the verdict for Irina Starykh of Russia: a two-year ban beginning on December 23, 2013, the date samples were collected which eventually tested positive for recombinant erythropoetin. Starykh claims that the substance must have been in a drug she injected to improve her skin, but this seems unlikely.

General News World Cup

Is Similä a ‘Black Sheep’? Positive EPO Test Stirs Old Fears for Finland

Chelsea LittleMay 21, 20142

Finnish skier Tero Similä has tested positive for the blood-doping drug EPO. While the case will likely put Finland back in the spotlight again after the 2001 disqualifications of six top athletes at World Championships for the same offense, Similä wasn't on the national team and one possibility is that he turned to doping to try to make the Olympic team (he did not).

Biathlon General News Racing

Starykh, Iourieva ‘B’ Samples Positive for EPO

Chelsea LittleMarch 10, 20142

The International Biathlon Union has for the first time confirmed that two athletes under investigation for doping since January are indeed Irina Starykh and Ekaterina Iourieva of Russia. The IBU announced that both women's "B" samples had tested positive for EPO, and disciplinary hearings will be held in the next few weeks.

General News Olympics Racing

Q&A on FIS Anti-Doping Policy: Testing Pools, Half-Lives, and Passports

Chelsea LittleFebruary 27, 20141

We read the FIS Anti-Doping Rules so you don't have to. Here are the answers to a few important questions in the wake of the Johannes Dürr EPO scandal. Yes, he was in FIS's registered testing pool (or at least, he should have been according to their own rules); and yes, they have a biological passport program. Dürr still dodged 14 tests, likely in part because of the short half-life of EPO.

General News Olympics Racing

Dürr Had Used EPO Since June, Passed 14 Anti-Doping Tests; IOC Decision Still Pending

Chelsea LittleFebruary 26, 201423

Austrian cross country skier Johannes Dürr says that he began taking EPO in June, after pressure to support his family became too much to bear. He says he acquired it from the former Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, the Austrian Ski Federation is considering kicking cross-country skiing out of the snow sports conglomerate after two scandals in three Olympics.

Biathlon General News Olympics Racing

Biathlon’s Aggressive Testing Led to Starykh Suspension — But Is It Enough?

Chelsea LittleFebruary 17, 2014

Three biathletes were recently caught doping - but does that count as cleaning out the sport, or is it just the tip of the banned-substance iceberg? According to IBU medical director Dr. Jim Carrabre, the biathlon union has doubled their testing in the leadup to the Olympics and is using the blood passport program to aggressively target potential dopers. Some substances can't be detected, but the federation is pushing as hard as current science and WADA rules allow.

General Health Lifestyle News Testing Training

This Month in Journals: Controversy at the Intersection of Doping and Research

Chelsea LittleMay 28, 2013

This month, the Journal of Applied physiology confronted allegations of scientific misconduct in two cases: one when a study used an athlete who turned out to have been doping, and another when researchers asked participants to use banned methods. The journal invited discussion from many of the scientists involved as well as WADA, with interesting, and antagonistic, results.

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