One result of provisionally suspended six Russian cross-country skiers while it investigates possible doping at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Among the six was Maxim Vylegzhanin, who won silver medals in the team sprint, relay and 50-kilometer mass start in Sochi. Although Vylegzhanin has not been cleared by FIS, he competed in two regional championship races over the weekend, winning both. In the 15 k skate, for instance, he beat Evgeny Vakhrushev by...
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...
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:...