The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has imposed an eight-month period of ineligibility starting on 23 March 2022 on Russian ice hockey player Dmitri Komarov after a positive doping test in the Russian junior league MHL.
The IIHF was granted control over the doping control testing and test planning of the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League, to which the MHL belongs.
The Chaika Nizhni Novgorod defender was tested after the MHL game against Sibirskie Snaipery Novosibirsk on 30 November 2021. The laboratory found the presence of tuaminoheptane, a prohibited substance listed on the 2021 WADA Prohibited List under S6 Stimulants as a specified substance.
On 23 March 2022 the player submitted his first explanation and voluntarily accepted a provisional suspension.
On 13 May 2022 the player submitted a retroactive therapeutic use exemption, which was rejected.
Based on the player’s explanation, the IIHF was of the opinion that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional and deemed it established that the prohibited substance was taken out of competition. In the 2022 WADA Prohibited List the substance is listed as an S6b Stimulant and thus only prohibited in-competition. Therefore, given that the player’s fault merely lied in the fact that he returned to competition prior to the substance being cleared from his system for in-competition doping control, the IIHF considered that the player committed the anti-doping rule violation with no significant fault and that a normal degree of fault can be attributed to the player.
Moreover, the IIHF took into account the fact that the medication was prescribed to the player by a doctor for a condition he was suffering, the player’s youth and inexperience, and the lack of anti-doping education received by the player. Accordingly, the IIHF deemed an eight-month period of ineligibility to be appropriate.
The IIHF was granted control over the doping control testing and test planning of the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League, to which the MHL belongs.
The Chaika Nizhni Novgorod defender was tested after the MHL game against Sibirskie Snaipery Novosibirsk on 30 November 2021. The laboratory found the presence of tuaminoheptane, a prohibited substance listed on the 2021 WADA Prohibited List under S6 Stimulants as a specified substance.
On 23 March 2022 the player submitted his first explanation and voluntarily accepted a provisional suspension.
On 13 May 2022 the player submitted a retroactive therapeutic use exemption, which was rejected.
Based on the player’s explanation, the IIHF was of the opinion that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional and deemed it established that the prohibited substance was taken out of competition. In the 2022 WADA Prohibited List the substance is listed as an S6b Stimulant and thus only prohibited in-competition. Therefore, given that the player’s fault merely lied in the fact that he returned to competition prior to the substance being cleared from his system for in-competition doping control, the IIHF considered that the player committed the anti-doping rule violation with no significant fault and that a normal degree of fault can be attributed to the player.
Moreover, the IIHF took into account the fact that the medication was prescribed to the player by a doctor for a condition he was suffering, the player’s youth and inexperience, and the lack of anti-doping education received by the player. Accordingly, the IIHF deemed an eight-month period of ineligibility to be appropriate.