Slovakian National Record Holding Swimmer Given 2-Year Doping Suspension

Slovakian swimmer Juraj Hlavek has tested positive for a banned substance and received a 2-year doping suspension. The ban, handed out by the Disciplinary Committee of the Slovak Swimming Federation, officially began on September 11th, 2019.

Hlavek tested positive for the banned substance Methylhexaneamine, a Class S.6.b Specified Stimulant, on June 16th, 2019, during the Open Championships of the Slovak Republic. All of his results from that meet have been stripped.

The 26-year old has competed at a few international meets in swimming, though generally as a club participant. He holds 2 Slovakian National Records as a member of his club’s relays in 2016 (VSK UK Bratislava). He was the slowest leg of the record-setting 200 free relay (23.23) and 400 free relay (50.93).

In long course, Hlavek has best times of 24.82 in the 50 fly, 54.75 in the 100 fly, and 2:07.57 in the 200 fly. He raced in finals of both the 50 fly and 100 fly at the Open Championships where the positive test came, as well as on 2 relays (both of which were also disqualified).

While still an active national-level swimmer at the time of his positive test, Hlavek’s has competed internationally in a different, albeit tangential, sport: surf lifesaving. In 2018, he competed at the international East Coast Rescue Competition in the United States, where he finished with 2 medals. The International Life Saving Federation, which hosts the annual Lifesaving World Championships, is also a WADA signatory.

A 2-year suspension for a first offense implies that the disciplinary committee believed that he did not dope intentionally, but that Hlavek could not prove a source of accidental ingestion of the banned substance.

Methylhexaneamine is available in both sports and weight loss supplements in many countries, including the United States, though the U.S. Department of Defense in 2012 banned all products containing the substance from military bases after at least 5 deaths have been reported in connection with supplements containing methylhexaneamine.

The substance has frequently resulted in the suspension of swimmers, including several Olympians in a run of bans from 2011-2014 caused by methylhexaneamine.