Austrian Madeleine Egle, the world's second-ranked women's singles luger, said she will miss the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics while suspended for missing three drug tests in 2023.
"My three missed tests happened because of unfortunate coincidences, not because I was trying to avoid testing," was posted on Egle's social media.
Her 20-month ban from the International Testing Agency (ITA), which she disclosed Monday, is retroactive to March 1, 2025, according to the Austrian luge federation.
The ITA has not commented publicly on Egle's case.
In drug testing in Olympic sports, missing three tests in a 12-month span can trigger a ban up to two years even if the athlete never fails a drug test. The federation said Egle, 27, has not tested positive in over 50 tests in her career.
Egle missed her third test on Dec. 20, 2023, and was notified of it Feb. 1, 2024. The investigative process into Egle's case lasted from Feb. 28, 2024 -- when she submitted a request for review to an independent arbitration commission -- through two hearings and an investigation that lasted almost one year, plus an appeal, according to the federation.
Athletes are required to give drug testers a one-hour time slot every day with a location where they can be found for no-notice drug testing. They are also required to provide daily locations for testing outside of their one-hour time slot.
Egle explained her three missed tests in detail on her social media:
"The first missed test occurred when my time slot for that day had already passed. I didn't update my overnight address because my slot time was already over; the time slot was linked to the original location. The second was due to a time-zone mistake. While sliding in Norway, I realized we were traveling to Sigulda a day later than originally planned. (Our season plan included two travel days I chose the wrong one). I updated my details before the control called me, but due to the one-hour time difference, the change still counted as too late. The third happened during a trip to Los Angeles. I didn't know we needed to add an apartment number ahead of time for our Airbnb. When I tried to update the system, the Wi-Fi didn't work, and later I forgot to add the apartment number. I was at the correct address, just missing the specific apartment number, and I didn't have Wi-Fi when the doping control tried to reach me on WhatsApp. None of these situations involved hiding or avoiding a test. They were administrative errors. For the past year and eight months, I have lived with constant fear and uncertainty, waiting for a decision about my future. At every race, I wondered if it might later be taken away from me. I waited for deadlines from the authorities they told me, deadlines they repeatedly missed while feeling mentally crushed and treated like a criminal. (The full mental journey would take too long to explain here; maybe I'll share that in another post.) In the end, my penalty became even harsher simply because I exercised the only right an athlete has: to question the decision and not accept it immediately. The sanction was reduced from the original two years plus the disqualification of all results back to my last missed test (a total penalty of 3.5 years), yet even the 20-month ban is still far too harsh and shatters my biggest dream of competing at the 2026 Olympic Games in Cortina. I know that I made a mistake but I will never understand how the system can impose such a severe punishment for this."
Last season, Egle ranked second in the World Cup standings behind German Julia Taubitz. Egle won four of the nine World Cup races.
Egle was seventh at February's World Championships in Whistler, British Columbia, won by Taubitz.
Egle was ninth and fourth at the last two Olympics. She also won team relay bronze and silver medals in 2018 and 2022.
2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics daily competition schedule