Will Clarke Hits Out At Former Competitor For EPO Usage
Beijing 2008 Olympian and Ironman triathlete Will Clarke has said that he has been left ‘disappointed and frustrated’ after seeing former Ukrainian triathlete Danill Sapunov banned for testing positive for EPO and then being backed by fans on social media.
Clarke took to social media to express his opinion on the recent news. In a Facebook post he stated he was surprised by the amount “huge amount of unwavering support towards someone who committed one of the biggest crimes in sport”.
He also highlighted some of the attitudes of fellow athletes towards doping in Ukraine and Russia. Most notably pointing out Ex-World Junior Champion Andrey Glushchenko, one of his former competitors.
Sapunov is a three-time Olympian (2004, 2008, 2012), and won won a number of Asian Cup events and one European Cup title. He represented both Kazakhstan and the Ukraine during his ITU career.
His long-distance career included an Ironman victory in Malaysia in 2018 and a runner-up finish at Ironman 70.3 Gdynia in 2016.
Clarke also jokingly posted on Twitter “It’s a bit embarrassing when you pump yourself full of EPO for years and you still can’t get yourself to the competitive end of a race.”
Many of triathlons biggest names backed the opinion of Clarke in the comment section with 3x World Championship medalist Australian Brad Kahlefeldt commenting “Most likely 15yrs of cheating mate”. Chris McCormack’s comment received a lot of attention as he commented “You can’t turn a donkey into a race horse”
Sapunov accepted a four-year sanction for the anti-doping rule violation.
Unfortunately this only furthers the suspicions that doping in rife in Ironman triathlon and should this be a call for testing to be improved on the Ironman scene?
Article written by Luke Howard
