20-year old swimmer Sebastian Szczepanski has failed a drugs test. Szczepanski won the bronze medals in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle at the 2015 European Short Course Championships which took place in Netanya, Israel, last December. Michal Rynkowski, who is the Director of the Polish anti-doping agency, told TVN 24 television that they “discovered hormone modulators, anabolic steroids and androgens…But we are waiting on the B sample and the explanations from the athlete.” he added.
They took the doping samples during the Polish Championships in December 2015 when Szczepanski won the national championship in the 100m freestyle.
It is not the first time the young swimmer has failed a drug test- he was suspended for 6 months when he was a junior swimmer – so he could be banned now, if found guilty, for four to eight years.
Szczepanski finished with bronze medals in both the 50 (21.21) and 100 (46.60) freestyles at the 2015 European Short Course Championships, which happened just two weeks before the Polish Championships at which the positive test came. His best times in the 50 free in long course also came in 2015 – where he swam 22.6- and he wasn’t far from it in the 100 free with a 49.98.
Andrzej Kowalski, the president of the Polish Swimming Federation, comments that “after twelve years of heavy training, Sebastian Szczepanski could lose all medals and scholarships.”