MOSCOW (AP) Ukrainian biathlete Olga Abramova has been provisionally suspended after failing a drug test for a newly banned substance.
The Ukrainian Biathlon Federation says Abramova, who recorded two top-10 finishes at last year's world championships, tested positive for the metabolism booster meldonium while competing in the World Cup series.
She tested positive on Jan.10, nine days after the substance was officially added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list.
The International Biathlon Union announced last week that an athlete had been provisionally suspended after a positive test for meldonium but did not identify the competitor.
Abramova tells the Ukrainian newspaper Segodnya that she had taken meldonium, also known as mildronate, which is commonly used to treat heart problems. She says it was prescribed by her doctor for a health problem and she stopped using it three weeks before it was banned, but that it stayed in her system.
Abramova says she expects a IBU decision in her case in ''maybe a week, maybe a month''
