Anti-doping organisations are mandated to provide a comprehensive anti-doping programme, which aims to detect, deter and prevent doping in sport. Direct detection of prohibited substances and methods by collection of biological samples from athletes makes up about half of the global anti-doping budgets but has in the last decade been under critical scrutiny for its lack of efficiency. To ensure optimum detection and deterrence of testing and prevention efforts, a better understanding of doping practices and comparison of different doping test strategies are needed. This study evaluates 17 years of doping test statistics and Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) from the perspectives of a national anti-doping organisation. A total of 48 709 samples (2865 ± 220 annually) were collected by Anti-Doping Norway in the period 2003-2019, which resulted in total 216 ADRVs (12.7 ± 3.7 annually), providing an average sample-to-ADRV rate of 0.44% when including urine, blood and ABP samples. Most athletes who committed ADRVs were men participating in ball and team or strength sports at a national or recreational level. Few ADRVs were recorded among elite athletes and in most high-risk sports, despite these groups being subjected to the highest number of doping tests. The number of annual ADRVs did not correlate with the corresponding number of collected doping samples. However, systematic use of intelligence in the test planning process was associated with an increase in ADRVs.Anti-doping organisations would benefit from improving their target testing capability and to take an intelligence-led approach in planning doping tests.

The hematological module of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) aims to reveal blood doping indirectly by looking at selected biomarkers of doping over time. For Anti-Doping Organizations (ADOs), the ABP is a vital tool in the fight against doping in sports through improved target testing and analysis, investigations, deterrence, and as indirect evidence for use of prohibited methods or substances. The physiological characteristics of sport disciplines is an important risk factor in the overall risk assessment and when implementing the hematological module. Sharing of experiences with implementing the hematological ABP between ADOs is key to further strengthen and extend its use. In this study, we present 10 years of experience with the hematological ABP program from the perspectives of a National ADO with special attention to sport disciplines' physiological characteristics as a potential risk factor for blood doping. Not surprisingly, most samples were collected in sport disciplines where the aerobic capacity is vital for performance. The study highlights strengths in Anti-Doping Norway's testing program but also areas that could be improved. For example, it was shown that samples were collected both in and out of season in a subset of the data material that included three popular sports in Norway (Cross-Country Skiing, Nordic Combined, and Biathlon), however, from the total data material it was clear that athletes were more likely to be tested out of competition and on certain days of the week and times of the day. The use of doping control officers with a flexible time schedule and testing outside an athlete's 60 min time-slot could help with a more even distribution during the week and day, and thus reduce the predictability of testing. In addition to promoting a discussion on testing strategies, the study can be used as a starting point for other ADOs on how to examine their own testing program.