AUSTRIA ANNOUNCES DOPING PROBE INTO RUSSIAN BIATHLON TEAM

VIENNA: Austrian prosecutors announced Thursday (Friday in Manila) that members of Russia’s biathlon team are being investigated over alleged doping offences at the 2017 World Championships in the Austrian town of Hochfilzen.

Russian biathletes were among those disqualified from the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 for being part of a state-sponsored doping program.

The scandal led directly to the publication of the McLaren report, which found that from 2011 to 2015 more than 1,000 Russian athletes across several sports benefited from a cover-up, and left a huge shadow hanging over Russian sport.

On Thursday, anti-corruption prosecutors confirmed in a statement that preliminary proceedings have been launched against five biathletes for “serious deception in connection with doping” at last year’s championships.

Five support staff would also be probed for “use of forbidden substances or methods for the purpose of doping”, prosecutors said.

The Russian Biathlon Federation confirmed Austrian police had visited members of the biathlon team— currently in Hochfilzen ahead of this weekend’s World Cup event — on Wednesday and had questioned several “Russian athletes and specialists”.

“The national team will continue its participation in the World Cup,” the federation added in a statement.

“The Austrian side has not presented any official document aside from the announcement of the opening of an investigation,” federation President Vladimir Drachev said in an emailed comment to Agence France-Presse.