The biathlete tested positive in an out-of-competition test. She will be suspended. Traces of letrozole were found, the same substance for which Sara Errani was disqualified

Four days before the opening ceremony, the first doping case among the athletes in Milan Cortina. Italian athlete Rebecca Passler, a biathlete born in 2001, tested positive in an out-of-competition test. The substance found was letrozole, a drug mainly used in cancer cases but which can also be used to reduce estrogen levels.

Rebecca Passler, originally from Anterselva, is 24 years old and has won several youth titles in her career. These include eight medals at junior and youth world championships, including a gold medal in the relay. Her tenth place in Oberhof is her best result so far this year. She will be suspended. Her father Johann won Italy’s first biathlon medal, a bronze in Calgary in 1988.

The previous Errani case—  This is not the first time that Italian sport has had to deal with a positive test for letrozole. In the summer of 2017, Sara Errani was disqualified for ten months because doping tests had detected traces of the same substance. The tennis player defended herself by claiming that the drug, used by her mother, had accidentally come into contact with a dish of tortellini cooked for the family. More recently, four years ago, there was the case of Belgian cyclocross rider Toon Aerts, who was suspended for two years despite also claiming accidental contamination.