Alex Schwazer under new doping investigation: Germany's NADA reported an EPO finding and imposed a provisional suspension
Italian Olympic race walking champion Alex Schwazer is once again facing doping proceedings after the National Anti Doping Agency of Germany announced that erythropoietin, known as EPO, had been detected in his urine and blood samples. The proceedings were opened after his appearance at the German Race Walking Championships in Kelsterbach on April 26, 2026, and the case has particular resonance because it involves an athlete whose career has already been marked by two earlier doping affairs.
The National Anti Doping Agency of Germany, NADA Germany, announced on June 22, 2026, that it had initiated results management proceedings against Alex Schwazer under the World Anti-Doping Code, the German National Anti-Doping Code and the anti-doping rules of the German Athletics Association. In the same announcement, the agency states that the athlete has been provisionally suspended and that, because of a possible anti-doping rule violation, a report has been filed with the competent public prosecutor's office under the German Anti-Doping Act. NADA also specified that EPO, a substance from group S2 on the World Anti-Doping Agency's Prohibited List, was detected both in the urine sample and in the blood sample. Such wording means that the proceedings have not yet been finally concluded, but that the competent body has announced a finding sufficient for a provisional measure and the continuation of the disciplinary process.
The appearance in Kelsterbach is now at the center of the proceedings
According to the official calendar and results of the German Athletics Association, the DM Straßengehen competition was held on April 26, 2026, in Kelsterbach, a town in the federal state of Hesse, near Frankfurt am Main. World Athletics lists the same competition in its results as the German Race Walking Championships, with the location Mörfelder Straße in Kelsterbach. In the international race program, Schwazer competed in the race walking marathon section of 42.195 kilometers and, according to reports from agencies and specialized athletics sources, achieved a time of 3:01:55. That result was presented in April as a new best Italian performance over the new distance, but now that very appearance has become the procedural point around which the new case is being built.
NADA Germany did not go into the sporting details of the appearance in its official announcement, nor did it cite circumstances that would indicate intent, the manner of taking the substance or any possible defense by the athlete. It announced only that the substance erythropoietin had been detected in samples collected at the German Race Walking Championships and that proceedings had been initiated for that reason. In the anti-doping system, such an announcement usually marks the transition from the phase of a laboratory finding to the phase of legal and disciplinary determination of responsibility. Until the proceedings are concluded, provisional suspension in practice means that the athlete cannot compete in competitions to which the rules apply, unless the competent body decides otherwise.
Schwazer denies taking prohibited substances
After the case was announced, Schwazer publicly rejected the accusation in Bolzano and said that he had not taken anything prohibited. According to an Associated Press report, he said that he was innocent, but that this time he did not intend to defend himself again because he no longer had the energy for a new legal and psychological battle. In the same statement, he expressed a loss of trust in the system and added that he was no longer interested in why, in his understanding, such proceedings keep being repeated precisely against him. The tone of his appearance was significantly different from the usual announcement of a fight to prove innocence: instead of an aggressive defense, he announced resignation, while claiming that his conscience was clear.
According to the same agency report, analysis of the B sample is expected in the continuation of the proceedings, and a third urine sample is also mentioned which, according to Schwazer's lawyer Gerhard Brandstätter, was retained with special permission. That detail is additionally unusual because a third sample is not a standard element of every doping proceeding. Brandstätter, according to the Associated Press, stated that the very request for an additional sample is an indicator of mistrust in the system and that the defense sees in it a possible key to proving the athlete's innocence. Until the results of additional analyses and official decisions are published, a difference remains between the laboratory finding announced by NADA Germany and the final legal qualification of the case.
Why EPO is a particularly serious finding in race walking
EPO, or erythropoietin, is in the sporting context one of the best-known prohibited substances connected with endurance. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency's 2026 Prohibited List of substances and methods, erythropoietins and agents affecting erythropoiesis are in group S2, among peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances and mimetics. WADA lists that class as prohibited at all times, which means both in competition and out of competition. The reason is the effect of EPO on the production of red blood cells and indirectly on oxygen transport, which can be decisive in disciplines that depend on prolonged aerobic effort.
Race walking, especially long sections such as 20 kilometers, 35 kilometers or the marathon distance, depends directly on the ability to maintain a high rhythm with strict technique and great oxygen consumption. For that reason, a possible finding of a substance that increases oxygen transport capacity in such disciplines is not treated as a minor procedural problem, but as a potentially serious rule violation. In Schwazer's case, additional weight is given by the fact that, according to NADA's announcement, EPO was detected in both types of samples. That in itself still does not mean a final decision on responsibility, but it explains why the German agency immediately resorted to a provisional suspension and a report under the national anti-doping law.
Olympic gold, the fall in London and the long shadow of 2016
Schwazer's sporting biography is one of the most controversial in modern athletics because it contains both the greatest achievement and the heaviest disciplinary burdens. According to official Olympic data, at the Beijing 2008 Games he won the gold medal in the 50 kilometers race walk and set an Olympic record of 3:37:09. That success then made him one of the world's most prominent race walkers, and the result from Beijing remained the central point of his sporting reputation. Only four years later, ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee announced that Schwazer had been declared ineligible to compete because a sample taken on July 30, 2012, in Calice, Italy, had tested positive for recombinant erythropoietin, or rhEPO.
In that case, according to reports at the time and later summaries, Schwazer admitted the doping violation and received a multi-year ban from competition. The Associated Press states in its current report that the sanction amounted to 45 months. After returning to sport and attempting to qualify for Rio 2016, a new case was opened connected with the reanalysis of a sample from January 2016. The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, CAS, announced on August 11, 2016, that it had dismissed Schwazer's appeal against the provisional suspension imposed by the then International Association of Athletics Federations and that it had imposed on him an eight-year period of ineligibility. CAS also stated at the time that all his competition results achieved from January 1, 2016, would be annulled, with consequences for medals, points and prizes.
The 2016 case did not end only with a sporting decision. In Italy, criminal proceedings were later conducted in which a favorable decision was issued for Schwazer, and claims of possible sample manipulation appeared in public. But the sports-law effect of the eight-year suspension was not overturned, and World Athletics announced in 2022 that WADA and the Athletics Integrity Unit had conducted analyses which, according to their position, explain why the 2016 sample could not have been manipulated in the way concluded by the judge in Bolzano. Precisely these opposing interpretations made Schwazer's case one of the most sensitive examples of a clash between criminal proceedings, sports arbitration and trust in the anti-doping infrastructure.
Possible consequences of the new proceedings
The new German proceedings are especially serious because, if the finding is confirmed and if the competent bodies establish a new anti-doping rule violation, it would be the third doping case in the career of an athlete who already has a history of sanctions. The Associated Press states that Schwazer, in the event of new confirmed guilt, could be facing a lifetime ban from competition. Such an outcome is not currently an official decision, but a potential consequence being discussed because of the rules on multiple violations and the seriousness of the substance named in the finding. While the proceedings are ongoing, it is legally most precise to speak of a possible anti-doping rule violation, a provisional suspension and the detection of a prohibited substance announced by NADA Germany.
On the other hand, Schwazer's announcement that he will not actively defend himself could change the dynamics of the case. In anti-doping cases, athletes usually use the right to analysis of the B sample, a statement, submission of medical documentation, challenge to the procedure for taking or storing samples and, ultimately, an appeal before sports arbitration bodies. If the athlete truly gives up such a fight, the proceedings could be shorter and less exhausting, but the public would be left without part of the answers that are usually opened through adversarial proceedings. That is precisely why the statement that he is innocent, but that he will not defend himself, creates an unusual situation: he disputes the accusation in public, but announces that he will not invest energy in the institutional path of proving it.
A case that goes beyond one career
Schwazer's new case again raises the question of how, in elite sport, the integrity of competition, the rights of athletes and public trust are protected at the same time. The anti-doping system rests on testing, accredited laboratories, rules on the chain of custody of samples and the possibility of appeal, but its credibility in the eyes of the public often also depends on how understandable and transparently reasoned the decisions are. In this matter, there is additional sensitivity because the athlete on the one hand has an admitted doping violation from 2012 and a confirmed sporting sanction from 2016, and on the other hand long-standing claims that the second case was unfair. For that reason, the new decision will be viewed not only as a technical question of a single finding, but also as a test of the system's ability to clearly explain every step to the public.
For world athletics and race walking, the case comes at a moment when endurance disciplines remain under increased scrutiny by anti-doping bodies. If the proceedings confirm a violation, Schwazer's career could end with one of the heaviest possible sanctions in sport. If additional analyses or the legal process lead to a different outcome, new questions will arise about samples, procedures and the way anti-doping bodies communicate. Until then, the fact officially announced by Germany's NADA remains: proceedings have been initiated against Alex Schwazer because of a possible anti-doping rule violation, after an EPO finding in urine and blood, and the Olympic champion from Beijing 2008 has been provisionally suspended.
Sources:
- National Anti Doping Agency of Germany, NADA Germany – official announcement on the initiation of proceedings against Alex Schwazer, provisional suspension, the EPO finding in blood and urine and the report to the competent public prosecutor's office (link)
- Associated Press / ESPN – report with statements by Alex Schwazer and his lawyer, information on the B sample, the third sample and the possible consequences of the proceedings (link)
- Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband, leichtathletik.de – official data on the DM Straßengehen competition held on April 26, 2026, in Kelsterbach (link)
- World Athletics – results and calendar record of the German Race Walking Championships in Kelsterbach on April 26, 2026 (link)
- LaPresse – report on Schwazer's appearance in Kelsterbach, the time of 3:01:55 and the Italian best performance over the race walking marathon section (link)
- World Anti-Doping Agency – the 2026 Prohibited List of substances and methods and the classification of erythropoietin in group S2 (link)
- International Olympic Committee, Olympics.com – official announcement on the exclusion of Alex Schwazer from the London 2012 Olympic Games because of a positive finding for rhEPO (link)
- Olympics.com – official Olympic results of the men's 50 kilometers race walk at the Beijing 2008 Games (link)
- Court of Arbitration for Sport, CAS – 2016 press release on the dismissal of Schwazer's appeal and the imposition of an eight-year period of ineligibility (link)
- World Athletics – 2022 statement on the position of World Athletics, WADA and the Athletics Integrity Unit regarding the claims about the 2016 sample (link)