Police bust 'doping ring' during skiing World championships

VIENNA

Austrian police said on Wednesday they had carried out a series of arrests and raids along with police in Germany in a crackdown on an "internationally active doping network".

Some of the police action was centred on the Austrian resort of Seefeld, where the Nordic skiing world championships are currently in progress.

Markus Gandler from the Austrian Ski Association told ORF television that two cross-country skiers from the Austrian team, Dominik Baldauf and Max Hauke, were among those who had been arrested.

One Kazakh and two Estonian athletes were also held in the raids, Austria's Federal Criminal Police Office said in a statement.

Austrian police say the doping ring was based in Erfurt in Germany and is "strongly suspected of carrying out blood doping of elite athletes in order to improve their performances in national and international competitions and to gain illegal profit from this".

A forty-year-old sports doctor, named as 'Mark S', is thought by police to have been a central figure in the doping ring and was arrested along with an alleged accomplice.

Nine people were arrested in total and 16 properties searched as part of the crackdown, called "Operation Bloodletting" by police.

German prosecutors said in a statement that nine of the buildings were in Erfurt.

They added the police actions were sparked by revelations made by Austrian cross-country skier Johannes Duerr in a programme broadcast on German television in January.

Duerr was thrown out of the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and labelled a "scoundrel" by his own team after testing positive for blood booster EPO.