Mountain bike pro Mathias Flückiger has been quiet for nearly three weeks after it became known that a doping sample from June 5 during the Swiss Championships in Leysin contained the banned substance Zeranol. Now, the 33-year-old has spoken out in a statement protesting his innocence – and has criticized the Swiss watchdog for sporting integrity, formerly known as Antidoping Switzerland.
“I didn’t take ziranol on purpose,” says Flückiger. It also states that the amount of the agent found was “several times (0.3 ng/ml) lower than the cut-off value for potential meat contamination (5 ng/ml)”. Additionally, “Zeranol is not known to be a doping agent,” so the amount detected “would have no effect on improving performance anyway.”
Not only does Flückiger reject the doping allegations, he also feels unfairly treated by Swiss Sport Integrity. In cases with such small amounts of a prohibited substance, one should speak not of a positive sample, but of an “atypical result”. Swiss Sport Integrity did not follow these instructions.
King: “It’s clear.”
Ernst König, the Swiss Sports Integrity director, rejects the accusation. He says: “We have informed the athlete of a possible anti-doping rule violation. This is because our clarification of the atypical analysis result did not bring any clarification. Colloquially, this is often referred to as a positive test.”
On the statement that Zeranol has no performance-enhancing effect, Koenig says: “We continue to have this discussion. However, the agent mentioned here is used to fatten livestock and has an anabolic effect. That is why it is on the banned substances list. So it is clear “.
What’s next in the Fluckiger case? The mountain bike professional says all possible explanations for how this outcome might have occurred are now being examined. According to Koenig, the Flückiger case is still an ongoing process. “For our part the dialogue is open, we are in exchange with the athletes.”
Fluckiger was given time to further study the control lab files. still has the opportunity to analyze sample b. (tmu)
Matthias Flückiger is sure: “I didn’t take ziranol on purpose.”
Photo: Keystone
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