EPO Doping in Today's Endurance Sports

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EPO Doping in Today's Endurance Sports

Postby Perry » Wed Feb 08, 2023 2:53 pm

This winter I went down a rabbit hole of research, and it seems very likely that EPO use has been widespread in recent years and may continue although detection has improved.

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... via%3Dihub

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35847455/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7205923/
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Re: EPO Doping in Today's Endurance Sports

Postby » Wed Mar 29, 2023 4:36 pm

Stop doping to steal Strava CR's Perry.
 
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Re: EPO Doping in Today's Endurance Sports

Postby Ellen » Thu Mar 30, 2023 10:45 am

Howdy Ze (Joe) :)

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Zé wrote:Stop doping to steal Strava CR's Perry.


Perry don't need no stinkin' EPO to beat Strava's current records :wink:

Miles of smiles,
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Re: EPO Doping in Today's Endurance Sports

Postby Perry » Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:02 am

I wish I was fast enough to be accused of doping. Alas, I am only talented at downhill running and mid-distance climbs. I would love to have a 7% increase in VO2 max.

What's interesting about Strava is that at the highest levels, the most prestigious crowns, athletes could in theory use ITPP which is otherwise easy to detect in drug tests.
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Re: EPO Doping in Today's Endurance Sports

Postby Perry » Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:17 am

Some more research here. Here's a graph of detection ability of the newer EPO test. In sports that can only afford race-day testing, like trail and ultra running, an athlete can stop injecting a week before the race and pass the test. Also it's unclear in the WADA documents whether some nations can still use the older LC-MS method. There also may be a loophole for mid-distance runners if only 30% of the EPO testing is required. It's unclear to me what that means.

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Re: EPO Doping in Today's Endurance Sports

Postby Perry » Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:42 am

I think a fair and honest solution is to limit hematocrit to 50% while testing for plasma expanders. However athletes get to 49.9% would be their business, and somebody at 51% could either draw blood to lower it or sit out that 1 race. The obstacle to this kind of policy is that everyone would have to admit that EPO use is happening instead of continuing the lie. It's not perfect because someone could train at dangerously high levels, then lower before race day, but at least it reduces the effects of cheating. 1 big factor is when athletes are notified in advance of the tests, and we don't know how "random" they are or what corruption might happen inside the labs.
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Re: EPO Doping in Today's Endurance Sports

Postby Perry » Sat Apr 15, 2023 5:00 pm

Another one is AICAR which stimulates production of mitochondria. No athlete has ever tested positive for it. However, it's only possible to detect within about 5 hours of a dose, and it was found in the trash at the Tour de France I think in 2009. It is very expensive, but maybe a black market operation has reduced the cost. Also, this experiment with a horse showed an enormous increase in urine concentration which raises the question of whether a lower dose combined with exercise would be effective and reduce the cost.

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Re: EPO Doping in Today's Endurance Sports

Postby Perry » Mon Jun 12, 2023 2:19 am

It looks like the ABP is deliberately weakened by not using proposed biomarkers that could detect more doping.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34626008/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27758046/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27260108/

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