The performances at the Tour de France are fascinating, and they demand explanations. The carbon monoxide method will come into focus at the 2024 event. Ernst König, Director of Swiss Sport Integrity, puts things in perspective.
The cycling portal "Escape Collective" got the ball rolling in the last week of the Tour. The web magazine had noted that the UAE Emirates (Tadej Pogacar) and Visma (Jonas Vingegaard) teams, among others, were using the carbon monoxide rebreather. The teams have also confirmed this, and its use is neither new nor prohibited. This device can be used to measure the success of the camp after an altitude training camp.
Three points create the hype
Three points or incidents caused the whole issue of carbon monoxide to boil over and move into the gray area of doping abuse:
Firstly, everyone is looking for explanations when Pogacar and Co. pulverize the records of the convicted dopers from the heyday of EPO cheating on the mountain climbs - with these fabulous times, most people are no longer satisfied with the references to progress in terms of technique, material, training methodology or nutrition.
Secondly, Pogacar behaved awkwardly. During the press conference on Tuesday, he was surprised by the question about carbon monoxide. He didn't quite know what to say and evaded the question: "I can't comment on that. I don't know anything about it. I always thought it was what comes out of the exhaust of cars. Maybe I'm just uneducated." It wasn't until a day later that he said, "It's a test method to see how you react to altitude." He described in detail how such a test works.
Thirdly, the carbon monoxide rebreather allows the application to be reversed, so to speak. It can also be used to inhale the highly toxic carbon monoxide (the gas is sometimes inhaled with suicidal intent) in very low doses. New studies have apparently shown that this can lead to an increase in performance. Similar to altitude training, the body reacts by producing more red blood cells, which means that five percent more haemoglobin can be produced.
It is not prohibited
"You can inhale carbon monoxide. This application is not on the list of prohibited methods," clarifies Ernst König, Director of Swiss Sport Integrity (formerly Antidoping Switzerland), in an interview with Keystone-SDA. "The method has been known for a long time and was never a huge issue in the past."
König recalls the conditions that must be met for a substance or method to be banned. "It is performance-enhancing, it is dangerous to health and it contradicts the spirit of sport. If two of these three criteria are met, then these substances and methods are not permitted. And worldwide."
König, virtually the highest Swiss doping hunter, states: "I am not aware of which of these criteria would be met by this method. It is up to WADA to define this." For this reason, the ball is now in the court of sports science. He is not personally familiar with the study that speaks of an increase in performance when inhaling carbon monoxide - but he does not rule out the possibility that his specialist departments are already looking into it.
WADA should act
The ARD editorial team and its doping experts also dealt with this topic in detail. In Germany it is stated: The inhalation of carbon monoxide has not yet been banned in elite sport. It would be the task of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to issue a ban.
The ARD journalists say that WADA and the UCI have the whole issue on their radar. However, inhaling carbon monoxide is neither prohibited nor on the watch list. However, they also refer to the study by sports physician Walter Schmidt from 2020, which proved that inhaling the gas over several weeks before a race can improve performance. And WADA is probably also defensive because inhaling carbon monoxide can hardly be detected - unless you catch someone in flagrante delicto.
