ISU Anti-Doping Policy

The ISU has a comprehensive year round, in and out of competition, anti-doping program that incorporates both urine and blood testing. 

The ISU blood testing program began in 1999 and uses a specific program called SAFE (Safe and Fair Event Testing) to monitor our athlete’s blood parameters which include the hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCH, MCHC, MCV,  red blood cells, the number and percent reticulocytes and reticulocyte hemoglobin. The SAFE program uses these parameters to calculate the off score for each athlete, which is also used to detect manipulation.

The ISU implemented the ISU Blood Screening Program and the ISU Skater Biological Passport Program for its athletes (juniors as well as seniors), which details their blood parameters over time. This long term monitoring of the skaters’ values allows the ISU Medical Commission to detect any anomalies or specific changes over time from which subsequent aggressive targeted  follow up is conducted  in the out of competition testing program. The ISU anti-doping  program fully complies with the World (WADA) Anti-Doping Code.