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Sara Benfares at the European Championships in August 2022
Photo:
Angelika Warmuth/dpa
The German runner Sara Benfares has been temporarily suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) due to suspected doping. As NADA confirmed to SPIEGEL, the banned substances erythropoietin, also known by its short form Epo, and testosterone were detected in a doping sample submitted by Benfares. The “Saabrücker Zeitung” first reported on the incident.
The 22-year-old from LC Rehlingen is part of Team Saarland for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. As part of this project, Saarland athletes receive additional funding. These have been temporarily canceled for Benfares, the sports director of the Saarland state sports association told the “Saarbrücker Zeitung”. According to its own statements, the German Athletics Association was informed about the process by NADA.
“A very dark hour”
"Sara's mother Beatrice informed us about the positive doping test on Wednesday last week and was positive that the matter would be cleared up," said the chairman of the LC Rehlingen, Thomas Klein, to the "Saarbrücker Zeitung". »This is a shock for us as a club, a very dark hour. We are still hoping that everything will work out in the athlete's favor," he said.
Benfares finished twelfth in the 5000 meters at the European Athletics Championships in Munich in 2022. Shortly before, she was eliminated from the preliminary round at the World Championships in Eugene. In 2022, she became German runner-up in the 5,000 meters and won the German ten-kilometer road championship in the same year.
Her stated goal for 2024 was the Olympic Games. “Of course it is my big dream to win gold in Paris,” Benfares told the “Saarbrücker Zeitung” in August last year.
mlb/dpa