UKAD’s latest figures show substantial increase in testing activity

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) has today released its quarterly testing report for July - September 2020, covering the period of gradual return of competitive sport to the UK following nationwide lockdown.

You can read the full report here.

A total of 1,406 tests were recorded for the period, a significant increase on the previous quarter. This increase reflects the return of competitive sport, with the highest numbers of tests in football, cricket, rugby (union and league) and athletics.

The quarterly report also includes tests conducted on behalf of UKAD on UK athletes based overseas. In addition to these figures, international UK athletes could also have been tested by their respective International Federation.

UKAD’s Director of Operations, Pat Myhill said: “I'm very proud of our testing team, who have delivered a substantial increase to our testing programme in very challenging circumstances. These figures should reassure the public as they show that we have been able to track the return of sport with a robust and thorough testing programme.

“As we know the significant COVID-19 restrictions in place are still affecting us all, and this is no different to operating a testing programme. The different government and local authority restrictions in place across the UK require us to adapt our processes, to meet our testing requirements across the regions and nations.

“Testing is just one part of a successful anti-doping programme. Our education programme has educated thousands of athletes since March, and we continue to process and act on intelligence reports.”

Since sport has slowly returned to the UK, UKAD continues to work closely with medical experts in the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) Sport Working Group, and organisations such as the Football Association (FA), to ensure new testing processes comply with the highest standards of safety and sport-specific considerations in light of the ongoing risks around COVID-19. 

More information on UKAD’s COVID-19 procedures to protect athletes and testers is available here.

The testing report is also below.