Portuguese open water swimmer Arseniy Lavrentyev has been suspended for one year after a combination of three whereabouts failures within an 18-month period. His suspension is back-dated to February 6th, 2014.
Under the rules of the World Anti-Doping Code, athletes must provide a one hour window every day where drug testers can locate them for random testing. WADA offers several ways for an athlete to update their whereabouts, including a mobile phone app. After three times failing to either file or be at his predetermined location, he was suspended for one year. That is consistent with the one-year suspension given to Albert Subirats in 2011, though his suspension was later lifted.
Lavrentyev is a Russian-born athlete but has represented Portugal at both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. In 2008, the inaugural Olympic open water race, he finished 22nd out of 25 athletes who started the race, nearly 12 minutes behind the eventual winner Maarten van der Wijden. He improved marginally in 2012, placing 19th out of 25 – just 1:42 behind the winner Ous Mellouli.
