PRESSURE IS INTENSIFYING ON UKA OVER THYROID MEDS

CRISIS-HIT UK Athletics are coming under increased pressure to further investigate the concerns of athletes over the use of thyroid medication after the issue was raised by one of Britain’s most prominent coaches at their members council meeting on Friday.

Sportsmail can reveal the topic was brought up in Glasgow by Toni Minichiello, the former coach of Olympic gold medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill and the coaching representative on the council.

It follows revelations by Sportsmail in November that British athletes feared that legal thyroid treatments may have been targeted by UK Athletics as a way of obtaining a marginal gain.

UKA have denied any wrongdoing and insisted they only ever screen for thyroid issues as a health precaution and that they recommended treatment solely when medically necessary.

Thyroid medications are not on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list, but a number of athletes who spoke to

Sportsmail had aired their suspicions that medication for hypothyroidism, such as L-thyroxine, had been used to aid weight loss.

In a meeting attended by acting UKA CEO Nic Coward and outgoing UKA chairman Chris Clark, Minichiello asked about the nature of the medications’ use and also probed about any relationship the beleaguered organisation may have had with the endocrinologist Dr Jeffrey Brown.

Brown worked with athletes at the Nike Oregon Project with Alberto Salazar, who is Sir Mo Farah’s former coach and was a consultant with UK Athletics between 2013 and 2017.

Salazar and Brown have both been banned from the sport for four years for anti-doping violations and Salazar has faced recurring allegations about his use of thyroid medications.

Minichiello, who said the meeting was positive in plotting a path forward for UKA, told Sportsmail: ‘It (the thyroid topic) was raised as an issue that I feel, as coaching representative, needs to be discussed. It needs to be looked at because only then can we draw a line under it and move on.’