MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Four Russian track and field athletes tested positive for the recently banned substance Meldonium during a national championship in late February, a source familiar with the situation told R-Sport on Monday.
Several top athletes, including tennis star Maria Sharapova, have recently tested positive for the substance.
R-Sport quoted Russian sprinter Nadezhda Kotlyarova disclosing on Sunday she had requested anti-doping regulators to unseal and analyze her second sample after the first sample had detected 25 nanograms of Meldonium.
WADA classifies the substance a metabolic modulator that increases athletes' endurance and shortens post-exercise rehabilitation time, as well as enhances the activation of the central nervous system.
