The International Testing Agency (ITA) reports that a sample collected on July 23rd in Tokyo from Ukranian triathlete Yuliya Yelistratva, prior to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Triathlon event, has returned an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for recombinant Erythroprotein (EPO). The athlete had been provisionally suspended from July 25, 2021, for another AAF coming from a test done by World Triathlon on the 5th of June in Ukraine and was not allowed to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The first sample was collected by World Triathlon during an in-competition anti-doping control on 5 June 2021 at the 2021 Europe Triathlon Cup Dnipro held in Ukraine. World Triathlon was informed of the case on 24 July 2021 by the WADA-accredited laboratory of Warsaw, Poland.

The athlete, who was on the start list for the Women’s Individual Event of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 on 27 July 2021, was immediately informed of the case and was provisionally suspended until the resolution of the matter in line with the World Anti-Doping Agency Code and World Triathlon Anti-Doping Rules.

The athlete appealed to CAS ADD to lift the provisional suspension, but following an ad hoc hearing handled by the ITA on behalf of World Triathlon, CAS ADD upheld the provisional suspension imposed on 25 July 2021 and Yelistratova was taken off the start list for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

On 8 August, ITA informed World Triathlon that the sample collected on the 23rd of July from the athlete had returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) (S2. Peptide, Hormones, Growth Factors, related substances, and mimetics). This additional sample was collected by ITA under the Testing Authority of the International Olympic Committee during an out-of-competition anti-doping control on 23 July 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. 

The result was reported by the WADA-accredited laboratory of Tokyo on 28 July 2021. Since the athlete was already provisionally suspended when the second AAF was reported and she was no longer at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the case was referred to World Triathlon for follow-up results management.