Analytical approaches in sports drug testing are continuously updated and expanded, exploiting new information on drug metabolism and disposition in humans as well as innovations in sample preparation and analysis, and also novel strategies focusing on marker-based test methods have been assessed, developed, and implemented. The resulting improved detection capability and retrospectivity of sports drug testing approaches has considerably limited the formerly available options of substances and methods of doping. In addition, however, and similar to the general population, elite athletes are exposed to a complex set of environmental factors including chemicals, biological and physical stressors, which constitute an exposome that is, unlike for the general population, subjected to specific scrutiny for athletes due to applicable anti-doping regulations and routine doping controls.
Test methods in sports drug testing, relying largely on chromatographic-mass spectrometric methods, were optimized and applied to newly identified challenges, including e.g. the detection and characterization of superior metabolic products of prohibited as well as non-prohibited substances, aiming at enhancing the analytical data available for decision-making processes in test result management. Additional information, resulting from controlled (microdosed) elimination studies and simulations of contamination scenarios, complements the dataset of routine doping controls.