Swedish biathlete Sebastian Samuelsson believes that some of his World Cup rivals are using banned performance-enhancing substances. He stated this in an interview for the Swedish public television SVT Sport.
“I was always convinced that I was competing against doped athletes,” stated the 28-year-old competitor, who is currently in third place overall in the World Championships.
His statement came in the context of a joint survey by SVT and broadcasters in Norway, Finland and Denmark. A total of 413 questionnaires were received by athletes across all Winter Olympic sports, of which 45 percent were returned completed.
Half of the athletes in the survey said that from September 2024 to September 2025 they did not undergo any out-of-competition doping control, i.e. testing during training or in their free time.
In addition, up to 35.5 percent of survey participants stated that they were not tested for doping during the given period even during competitions. Only one test was completed by 17.5 percent of respondents.
“That’s bad, they should be tested much more often. At the same time, this is a trend that has been going on for several years,” Samuelsson emphasized.
According to him, the lack of tests is related to finances: “Testing is very expensive and almost all samples are negative. Then you have to ask yourself whether many doping tests are really an effective way to detect cheaters.”
Samuelsson is waiting in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo for the third time under the five rings. At the Olympics in Pyeongchang, he won silver in the pursuit race and was also part of the winning men’s relay team.
