British cyclist’s doping case raises questions over testing precision

In the summer of 2023, British cyclist Lizzy Banks faced every professional athlete’s worst nightmare – she was notified by UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) that she had returned an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) – a positive test. Ukad had identified two substances in her samples, the asthma medication formoterol and the diuretic chlortalidone.

While her asthma medication was something she had taken for years and was known to Ukad, the additional presence of the diuretic – which can be used to mask the presence of performance-enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids – initiated a second AAF.

Banks was told that she may have committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), for which she could face a two-year ban from cycling.

‘I just couldn’t believe it, there was this massive, bold, red, highlighted writing and I just couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing before my eyes,’ Banks told Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. ‘I’d been so, so careful throughout my career … I just had no idea how this could have possibly occurred.’