Also a big name in alpine skiing in Operation Aderlass: this is Hannes Reichelt!

The Wunderteam veteran was questioned in Innsbruck as part of the maxi-doping investigation: "I have never taken prohibited substances". And his lawyer talks about possible revenge ...

Monday 27 May 2019 5 minutes reading time

Twenty-one athletes from eight different sports and now a real big man, the first from the world of alpine skiing. Hannes Reichelt was involved in the operation Aderlass, questioned in the past few hours in Innsbruck and, as confirmed by the Austrian federation itself, there is an open file on the position of the 38-year-old super-g champion in Beaver Creek 2015. On the columns of the "Krone" we have entered into detail the position of Reichelt, who for years has been representative of the athletes in FIS and has also repeatedly exposed himself to doping in the world of skiing and sport in general. Also for this reason, the racer's lawyer spoke openly about a possible conspiracy behind this situation. "In my opinion it is clearly an act of revenge - the words of Hans-Moritz Pott - There is no evidence, only a few statements, but it seems absurd to bring up an athlete like Hannes, by far the most thin of skiers world-class ". The official motivations are expected already today, but the same dt of the national team, Andreas Puelacher, says he is certain of Reichelt's innocence: "I find it inconceivable that Hannes has taken on something forbidden". From what has been learned, compared to other cases of the inquiry born in the world championships of Nordic skiing, last February in Seefeld, the case of the Austrian sprinter would not concern practices related to transfusions, as in the cases of the cross-country skiers Dominik Baldauf and Max Hauke or cyclists Stefan Denifl and Georg Preidler, but when taking prohibited drugs. "I don't know what all this may come from - the bitter words of Reichelt himself to the" Krone "- I only know that I have never taken prohibited substances, on the contrary I have always controlled everything very carefully." Reichelt was questioned last Friday: "I was awakened by the investigators of the federal criminal police office at dawn, it was shocking to realize that everything was linked to this doping operation". Also according to sources in the Austrian newspaper, on the same day on Friday, former cross-country ski coach Gerald H., who had been linked to Reichelt for his training plans, was arrested, "but I was never offered to do something illegal ", while in turn there would be the involvement of Emanuel M., former skiman of Dario Cologna arrested just over a month and ago. "I saw it once, during a training camp in Cyprus in 2013, but doping was never a theme," explained Reichelt who, having become a father for the first time seven weeks ago, had decided to continue a career that at this point could break in the worst way. "We were so happy, me and my wife Larissa with our son Niklas, and suddenly something like that happens to you ...".

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