Immediately before the start of the Winter Olympics there is the first positive doping test. An Italian biathlete tests positive for a drug that is actually used to treat breast cancer. She misses her home game.
The Italian biathlete Rebecca Passler tested positive for the active ingredient letrozole shortly before the start of the Winter Olympics. This was announced by Italy’s anti-doping authority. It is the first doping case surrounding the games in Milan and Cortina, which officially open on Friday. Passler tested positive during an out-of-competition check.
Letrozole is a drug that is actually used for early-stage breast cancer. But it also lowers estrogen levels. The drug has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2008.
The 24-year-old Passler has been competing in the World Cup since the end of 2021. In January she was the starting runner of the Italian women’s relay team at the competitions in Oberhof, Thuringia, which only finished tenth in the absence of stars Lisa Vittozzi and Dorothea Wierer. Her best career results are two eleventh places in the Oberhof sprint and the Annecy mass start.
Two podium places with Italy’s relay team
The former junior world champion has not yet made it into the top ten in the relay in an individual race. With the Italian women’s relay team, she made it to third place twice in the winter of 2022/2023 alongside Wierer and Vittozzi.
Passler is the niece of former Italian biathlete Johann Passler, who won two Olympic bronze medals in Calgary in 1988. According to Italian media, Johann Passler will also work as a logistics assistant in the Antholz stadium during the Winter Games that start on Friday.
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There had been a doping case involving letrozole in Italy in the past. The drug was also found in former French Open finalist Sara Errani in 2017. At the time, tennis player Errani denied having taken the substance and suspected food contamination.
luwi mit dpa
