Leon 2024: highest-ever rate of pre-competition tests on participating athletes!

The 2024 IWF World Junior Championships, held from September 19-27 in Leon (ESP), produced great performances on a sport level, but registered another very significant milestone: it was the IWF event with the highest proportion of athletes tested before its start.

Out of the 327 lifters attending the competition, 280 (85.6%) underwent at least one out-of competition test in the six months preceding the beginning of the event. As a comparison, for the 2023 IWF World Junior Championships, staged in Guadalajara (MEX) last November, 30.1% of the participating athletes had been tested during the same period.

These unprecedented numbers are mainly due to the new Categorisation Rule, in place since January 2024. Under these new regulations, proposed by the International Testing Agency (ITA) and supported by the IWF Anti-Doping Commission, the IWF’s Member Federations are categorised based on the doping risk to the sport and are required to fulfil specific anti-doping requirements. 

Category ‘A’ and ‘B’ Member Federations are required to ensure all athletes competing in the IWF World Junior Championships, IWF World Senior Championships, and Olympic Games, known as “Selected Events” are tested and educated in line with IWF’s updated Anti-Doping Rules. This includes a minimum of out-of competition tests prior to these competitions.

In detail, and before the start of the Spanish rendezvous in Leon, 147 (out of 171- 86%) male athletes were tested, and 133 (out of 156 – 85.3%) female lifters also underwent doping controls.

“These very significant numbers show our full commitment, in close partnership with the ITA, to ensure the IWF events are fair and clean competitions. The new categorisation rule, enforced since the beginning of this year, is one more tool in this essential fight, as it represents an additional responsibility for our National Member Federations. It is clear that everyone is abiding by these rules – and this is even more important considering the young age of the athletes taking part ai the IWF World Junior Championships,” considered the IWF President Mohammed Jalood.

IWF Communications