The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has banned Croatian Andrej Hladnik for three years from June 6, 2025, for the presence of a prohibited substance. He tested positive for Ostarine. His results will be disqualified from October 13, 2024.
He was provisionally suspended in January.
The road runner holds a best in the marathon of 2:25:58 and a 10K of 31:55, which were run in October and November 2024. The 35-year-old won the 2023 Zagreb Marathon in a time of 2:30:51.
Ostarine is a type of drug called a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM). It’s not approved by the FDA, but is sometimes found in supplements. Ostarine attaches to proteins in the body known as androgen receptors. When Ostarine binds to these receptors, it tells muscles to grow.
People use Ostarine for athletic performance, involuntary weight loss due to illness, breast cancer, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.
Ostarine is an investigational drug and, therefore, not approved for any use by the US FDA. Despite this, it is still sometimes found in dietary supplements, particularly those marketed for bodybuilding. Ostarine, along with other SARMS, is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
