– I am very sorry and want to apologize to my family, friends, supporters and the sport in general. I have tested positive in an “out of competition” check and that I have been suspended for three years. This is how triathlete Collin Chartier begins his Instagram post with. There, the American writes that he has been caught for performance-enhancing doping and that he is now lying flat. Chartier has recently been trained by the Norwegian national team coach Mikal Iden, but in a private connection. IN SHOCK: Mikal Iden is an assistant coach at the Norwegian national triathlon team. Photo: Instagram/Mikal Iden – I never thought I would have to write such a statement as this. I’m in shock and I’m crying now, after learning that an athlete I’ve trained for the past year has taken drugs, writes Iden himself on Instagram. – No plans to return In the post, Chartier believes that the doping began in November last year. He is now banned from the sport for three years. The international testing agency writes that Chartier was caught for the illegal hormone substance EPO. – I have no plans to return to triathlon professionally, he claims. The American claims that he told himself he was lost and that he started using doping when he was injured. – I felt I had to do this if I was going to have the success I wanted in 2024. Feelings of intense pressure and expectations to win the biggest races in 2024, along with feeling unhappy about the personal sacrifices I had made. TRIATHLET: Collin Chartier celebrates after he wins a race in the USA in 2022. Photo: James Mitchell / AP Iden strongly distances himself from Chartier’s actions. – It is such a complete crash against my values that it is unthinkable. The only positive thing I can take from this is that the anti-doping organizations have caught the athlete. Trust is going to be difficult going forward, he writes. news has tried to get a comment from Collin Chartier on the matter, but has so far been unsuccessful. Having been part of the Norwegian company Chartier has thus been trained by Iden, but has no connection to the Norwegian national triathlon team. – It is incredibly sad to hear about this, but he is not part of our association so I do not feel that it is right for us to comment on anything beyond that, says Secretary General of the Norwegian Triathlon Association, Gabrielle Bjørnstad-Northern, to news . Iden owns 40 percent of the company MI Sports Performance. The rest of the company is owned by Erik Nygaard Madsen, Kasper Danbolt, Sebastian Wernersen and Vetle Thorn, all of whom are or have been part of the Norwegian triathlon community. On the company’s website, Chartier is highlighted as one of the athletes trained by Iden. – Mikal has not trained anyone through the company, but he has trained some professional triathletes outside. We have of course used them positively to promote our company, but which we now see a big downside when he (Chartier) has used something that is illegal. Then you get a bit of it, says Madsen.
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