I think that’s a pretty good solution. But keep in mind some people might have fought the process harder if the result was essentially 10k in fines paid as fees at a later date if they want to compete.
But it’s totally reasonable to shift compliance costs onto those whose actions necessitated the testing in the first place.
Uh, he is allowed to return to compete in triathlon by the rule of law. Suggesting any further punitive damages that were not already levied is not living by the rule of law.
Please touch grass and do 20 pushups.
Over the years we have had 10s of caught Pro dopers coming back to the sport. Some still racing.
I think Tomás will come back - and I think he will do well… like it or not.
Why do some people on here always confuse being rude and being funny.
He is allowed to return, even IOC was not able to get dopers banned for life. It might still be reasonable that caught dopers should be trusted less in regards to anti-doping measures and should be controlled more. In criminal law you can always have extra conditions (like alcogol or drug testing) or loss of certain rights after release, which would be similar to being subject to more anti-doping tests. It might not hold for athletes that are already caught, but a rule-change could be acceptable.
Sure, but the criminal law code, etc. allow for those types of things.
There’s exactly zero in the WADA Code or respective rules of the signatories to apply for that. (Nor do I think we want our governing bodies trying to play in that space, given how well the World Tri Hydration rules rollout went).
If you pop hot once and then are re-added to the testing pool you will likely be tested more often than those who would otherwise be in the testing pool. It’s pretty normal. Adding additional costs after the period of suspension is punitive and should not occur. Now if WADA were to include fines and all the governing bodies were into that, then that would come as part of the actual penalty and should be paid before returning to race. But that’s not going to happen and is an undue burden in the small sports that WADA generally governs. Even in Rugby where some guys are making 1M/year in playing salary before National Team fees and sponsors. There are guys at D1 levels barely making 80k so huge pay disparity.
Yeah, and ultimately the rules have to be “right sized” given the pool of athletes involved.
Does anyone know if he was ever in a testing pool?
Not sure when he was added, but he currently is. I wonder how many tests he’s had in the past 2 years.
IIRC you have to be in the testing pool for 6 months if you’re coming back from sanction or retirement before you can compete. They brought the rule in because Danilo Di Luca ‘unretired’ a few days before the Giro, and was glowing brighter than times square a few days later when they tested him.
Rodriguez was in the Ironman RTP in 2025.
In checking this I deduced the following list of athletes who have been added to the Ironman RTP for 2026 (ie were not on it in 2025). Aware that several athletes will, in 2025, have been on the World Tri RTP or their Nat Fed RTP, and indeed may still be on that/those as well.
| Athlete | Sport Nationality |
|---|---|
| Anderbury, Rebecca | United Kingdom |
| Azevedo, Filipe | Portugal |
| Bjerkeset, Marius | Norway |
| Ceccarelli, Mattia | Italy |
| Chura, Haley | United States |
| Clavel, Charlene | France |
| Clutterbuck, Stephanie | United Kingdom |
| Colville, Katie | United States |
| Cooper, Zack | United Kingdom |
| Curridori, Elisabetta | Italy |
| De Boer, Marlene | Netherlands |
| Diederiks, Diede | Netherlands |
| Fauteux, Danielle | Canada |
| Gillespie-Jones, Kate | Australia |
| Giovine, Dario | Italy |
| Groff True, Sarah | United States |
| Grue, Kristian | Norway |
| Guerber, Nathan | France |
| Hollioake, Regan | Australia |
| Iemmolo, Julie | France |
| Lawrence, Holly | United Kingdom |
| Lindars, Kieran | United Kingdom |
| Lopes, Andre | Brazil |
| Lovseth, Solveig | Norway |
| Lucas Lottie | United Arab Emirates |
| Lumkes, Gabrielle | United States |
| Mathieux, Justine | France |
| Montraveta Moya, Jordi | Spain |
| Moody, Jack | New Zealand |
| Moriarty, Fiona | Ireland |
| Olson, Rachel | United States |
| Pabinger, Anna | Austria |
| Palmer, Harry | United Kingdom |
| Remond, Katie | Australia |
| Robertson, Jodie | United States |
| Saaveras Breivold, Jon | Norway |
| Scarabino, Federico | Uruguay |
| Stolf, Bruna | Brazil |
| Strehlow, Annamarie | United States |
| Taccone, Luciano | Argentina |
| Thalmann, Sven | Switzerland |
| Watt-Shannon, Alexandra | United States |
| Wild, Rosie | United Kingdom |
| Zorgnotti, Benjamin | French Polynesia |
Note 1: "The IM RTP [is] determined at the discretion of IRONMAN and iaw the International Standard for Testing. In addition, consideration is given to an athlete’s existing enrollment in their [NADO RTP] so that IRONMAN’s efforts are coordinated with and complement, not duplicate, worldwide anti-doping efforts."
Note 2: Seven added from UK; eight added from USA.
Solveig was not on the Ironman Test Pool in 2025?
See my caveat: Loevseth will have been on the Norges Anti-Doping Norway RTP.
These are the testing stats for triathlon:
| Idrett | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triatlon | 78 | 34 | 60 | 88 | 64 | 53 |
Heading stateside for her first IM Pro Series races, aiui.
Off topic: While checking this I stumbled on a ‘no fault or negligence’ finding, which WADA did not appeal; reported November 2025
"Norwegian club Valerenga have urged global anti-doping authorities to modernise their regulations . . .after an extraordinary case in which a banned stimulant had leached from an artificial pitch and caused a failed drug test for one of their women’s team players.
“The story began after an away match against LSK Kvinner in April: routine testing found traces of the prohibited stimulant DMBA in samples from four players on each side. One test from a Valerenga player exceeded WADA’s 50 ng/ml reporting threshold, sparking a baffling investigation. The players did not share supplements, food or drinks, so players and club staff were stunned.”
This highlights the ‘nano level’ reporting thresholds and the challenge of setting these so micro-dosing is captured but contamination isn’t (the latter causing almighty waste of resources and angst).
Yeah, so this is where you have to be careful with trying to ascertain where a person is being tested.
IRONMAN has their own testing pool. It’s basically in addition to the pools run by the various national governing bodies. Take USA Triathlon’s as an example – it is primarily focused on athletes racing WTCS / T100 (hooray, World Tri affiliation) as, well, that’s what USAT’s primary mandate is for producing Olympic caliber athletes.
So, as @Ajax_Bay mentioned, Solveig was in her country’s testing pool. She’s moved to the RTP list. Kristian and Gustav are not on IM’s pool, but are in Norway’s. Most American long course athletes are in IM’s program, unless they’ve been racing T100 a fair bit.
Think of it as just trying to fill in the cracks where athletes might otherwise fall in.
This is a good lesson to never overestimate the reach of a podcast.