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 has emerged among the athletes at Milano Cortina. Italian biathlete Rebecca Passler, born in 2001, has tested positive in an out-of-competition drug test. The substance detected is letrozole, a drug primarily used in oncology but which can also be used to reduce estrogen levels.

Rebecca Passler, a native of Anterselva, is 24 years old and has won several youth-level titles throughout her career. These include eight medals at Junior and Youth World Championships, one of which was a gold in the relay. Her tenth-place finish 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 at the 1988 Calgary Games.

the previous Errani case—  This is not the first time Italian sports have been confronted with a positive test for letrozole. In the summer of 2017, Sara Errani was suspended for ten months after doping tests detected traces of the same substance. The tennis player defended herself by claiming that the medication, which her mother was taking, had accidentally come into contact with a plate 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 even though he, too, had argued that the contamination was unintentional.