In May, Robert Karas became a global sensation when he broke the world record in the 10-time Ironman. Today, his achievement is questionable because prohibited substances have been detected in the athlete’s body. It turns out that Robert Karas knew that he was taking banned supplements. The athlete explains and comments on the matter in a live interview.
Yesterday we informed about Robert Karas’s statement, in which the athlete announced that illegal substances were detected in his body in the test of sample A taken three days after he broke the world record in the 10-time Ironman distance (38 km swimming, 1800 km cycling, 422 km run). Robert Karas covered the race distance in 164 hours, 14 minutes and 2 seconds, beating the previous world record by almost 19 hours. The achievement of the Pole is questionable in the light of his recent reports.
Robert Karas was tested three days after completing a 10-time Ironman. The tests were carried out at his previous request, as breaking a world record is only considered valid if it took place in competitions testing for doping of its participants. This is one of two things that Robert Karas is currently basing his defense on, saying that he would be stupid to break the record and demand testing while taking doping. Now the athlete revealed more details in an interview with Tomasz Smokowski in the “Kanal Sportowy” program. It turns out that Karas knew that the drugs he was taking contained banned substances even before taking them and was aware of this when taking them. The athlete explains his actions as follows.
-I had four fractures. A friend who trained in the gym recommended me to go to one person, saying that I do not supplement with anything. – Karas began to explain the case on the “Kanal Sportowy”.
-I met this man, Michal, saying that I am a triathlete and I have tests after every start. Everything must be clean in my body.- told Karas
The triathlete admitted that he had not checked the information about Mr. Michal before. He trusted his friend who recommended him and knew that Michal had worked with athletes in the past, never having doping problems. Karas also admitted that he was aware of taking a prohibited substance.
-I knew I was taking it, but I didn’t know what it was. I asked if it was legal. He told me ’72 hours and you won’t have it in your system’ so I knew it was something illegal.- told Karas
Despite admitting to being aware of the composition of the drugs administered to him, Karas maintains that he has never taken doping to improve his results. He bases his defense on hearing from the person supplementing him that the drug is supposed to stay in the body for only three days, not for several months and only regenerate it after so many fractures. On his Instagram profile, Karas even published a polygraph test confirming his words.
The athlete was assured that the substances had no influence on the results. They were supposed to disappear from his body after 72 hours, and trace amounts of them were found in Karas’s tests more than 120 days after their use. Expert Jakub Chycki, also present at Karas’s interview, admitted that the substances taken did not actually affect sports performance after such a long time.
For taking doping, Karas is at risk of losing the world record and a four-year disqualification in only one of the federations under which he is subject.
This is definitely one of the most interesting, complicated and unobvious doping scandals in recent years due to the attitude and information provided by Karas himself, as well as anti-doping experts. Let us know in the comment what you think about Karas’s case and how you would act in the place of POLADA (Polish Anti-Doping Agency).
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