Pokljuka (Slovenia) (AFP)

French biathletes Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin pointed out Monday the low number of doping controls suffered this season outside of competitions due to the health crisis.

"We were very little checked outside of the races, explained Fillon-Maillet, two days before the start of the Worlds in Pokljuka in Slovenia (10-21 February). I have been checked since the start of the season only once in home and once in the World Cup. That's very little compared to other years. "

Le Jurassien finds "a pity that the IBU (the International Biathlon Federation, editor's note) does not set up more regular checks, like in other years, to intimidate and control as many athletes as possible. Because as checks are becoming scarce , this can push some athletes to dope, "he lamented.

"I spoke with an IBU controller, he told me that they were as numerous as the other years but that it was impossible to organize checks on a specific site where we could control 20 to 30 athletes per day, he added. There, they have to control them one by one, it takes a lot longer. Because of the Covid, doping can continue, I hope it will not have repercussions. "

Emilien Jacquelin, for his part, considered "strange" not to have been tested often this winter outside of competitions.

"Over the whole season, the non-race checks are less important. Last year before the Worlds, I had two tests in a row, one on Wednesday evening and the other on Thursday morning. I know that 'with this epidemic, the fight against doping is complicated but I think that we should not stop at that ", declared the Frenchman who will defend in Pokljuka his title of world champion of the pursuit won in 2020 in Anterselva ( Italy).

Quentin Fillon-Maillet also expressed his disappointment after the publication on January 28 of a damning report of a commission set up by the IBU, accusing former president of the body Anders Besseberg of having covered cases of Russian doping in exchange for various favors.

"It breaks my heart, he said. If the leadership of our International Federation is corrupt, it casts doubt on a lot of things. I hope that we tend towards a sport more and more clean. But it gives a negative image of our sport. "

kn / bm

© 2021 AFP