UKAD releases testing report for January to March 2024, naming the top five tested sports
From the beginning of January to the end of March 2024, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) carried out 2,350 anti-doping tests according to its most recently published quarterly testing report. This is up 561 tests on the previous quarter (October to December 2023). The report shows that the most tested sports were football, rugby league, rugby union, athletics and cycling.
UKAD tests across more than 50 sports, many of which are unique in their doping risks. UKAD’s testing strategy is intelligence-led and risk-based, targeting the greatest threats to clean sport. This year, the organisation is also continuing to put an emphasis on testing athletes hoping to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This includes collaborating with other International Federations and the International Testing Agency to coordinate its comprehensive pre-Games testing programme, and reanalysing samples held in long-term storage (up to 10 years) taken from athletes likely to compete at the Games.
In addition to publishing the number of in-competition and out-of-competition tests conducted by sport from January to March 2024 (2,350), UKAD’s report also states that the number of tests conducted throughout the 2023/24 financial year is 8,492.
Hamish Coffey, Director of Operations at UKAD, said: “Our testing programme is an essential tool in deterring and detecting doping across sport in the UK. With the Olympic and Paralympic Games just around the corner, it is vital we continue to work with athletes and our partners on clean sport. Reflecting on the last year, I’d like to thank our expert team of testers for their dedication and commitment, and all athletes we have tested for your support of the doping control process.”
In addition to its robust and intelligence-led testing programme, UKAD also uses other tools to deter and stop doping, like education, reanalysis of samples kept in long-term storage, and the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) programme to monitor selected biological markers in an athlete’s blood and urine over time, which can indirectly reveal the effects of doping. The ABP is a critical component of UKAD’s testing programme, as well as one of many vital ways of gathering intelligence to help ensure it protects clean sport.
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