So this article implies that athletes started to find out about it around 2020.
I feel like it's around that time that people started to ask "is there a new super drug we don't know about yet."
A new universal blood substitute that doesn't show up in your blood passport (doesn't increase hematocrit), can be stored at room temperature and even freeze dried, has a detection window of just 4-8 hours, and can carry 40x as much oxygen as human haemoglobin...
That would certainly fit the bill. How do you catch someone with a 4-8 hour detection window?? You could take it the morning of an evening race and have it be undetectable.
I would also add this is causing some chatter in cycling circles. Like track and field there have been quite a few unbelievable performances since 2020 in cycling but unlike athletics no super spikes/shoes to pin the blame on.
Dose right before bedtime the night before a marathon. WADA / AIU isn't going to knock in the middle of the night prior to a major race. The athletes would rebel against that sort of intrusion.
Sneaky Pete wrote:
Dose right before bedtime the night before a marathon. WADA / AIU isn't going to knock in the middle of the night prior to a major race. The athletes would rebel against that sort of intrusion.
+1
In fact you cannot be tested between 11 pm and 6 am. Which is why microdosing works so well: just load up a bit every day at 11 pm. Done and done.
