Expert Witness Journal Issue 66 April 2026 - Flipbook - Page 38
What recent reporting & sport‑speci昀椀c
chatter tell us
intake and resistance training aren’t carefully
protected. This erodes peak power, repeatability
and injury resilience.
Mainstream and specialist outlets have chronicled
the tension between potential advantages and
risks. Triathlon and endurance publications have
highlighted rapid weight drops alongside improved
lab markers — but they also report that athletes
are battling gastrointestinal issues at intensity and
struggling to fuel long e昀昀orts. This is a deal-breaker
in marathon, long-course triathlon or stage racing.
In addition, slowed gastric emptying raises the odds
of nausea, re昀氀ux and an unsettled stomach during
hard training and racing. This can derail in-race
carbohydrate plans and — over time — push you
towards low energy availability and relative energy
de昀椀ciency in sport (RED-S). The result is a classic
short-term/long-term trade-o昀昀 — while it may
be easier to get lighter, you can become a lot less
durable if the basics aren’t nailed.
Meanwhile, sport pages have documented the
cultural pressure around leanness in cycling and the
broader conversation sparked when elite athletes
like former professional tennis player Serena
Williams have discussed GLP-1 use. All of this has
sharpened WADA’s focus on whether use in elite
circles is drifting from therapy into abuse.
Half‑life, washout & why timing matters
Semaglutide has a half-life of roughly a week. While
this means that it’s great for once-weekly dosing,
clinically relevant levels linger for weeks after you
stop. With albumin binding and slow clearance,
it can remain in your system for about 昀椀ve weeks
following the 昀椀nal injection.
Where this could be headed
WADA’s monitoring isn’t just a formality — it’s a
data-gathering step that’s preceded prohibition for
other substances when patterns of abuse became
clear. Detection methods for GLP-1s in blood and DBS
are improving and anti-doping organisations are
steering athletes towards authoritative medication
status tools rather than social media lore.
From a practical standpoint, the fact that
semaglutide stays in your system for weeks after the
last dose a昀昀ects how you should plan your training
and competition. It can in昀氀uence when side e昀昀ects
like nausea or gastric discomfort show up during
key sessions and it limits your 昀氀exibility if you need
to stop before a major event or respond quickly to
changes in anti-doping rules.
For athletes, the strategic question isn’t simply “does
a lighter body help?” but “can I stay fast, fuelled and
robust while managing the side e昀昀ects — and do so
within rules that might tighten?” The answer varies
by discipline, physiology and support structure but
the common thread is that performance still rests
on adequate energy availability, muscle function
and reliable gastrointestinal tolerance on race day.
Drugs don’t change those fundamentals.
Permitted use, concentrations & how it
shows up in tests
Semaglutide isn’t currently on WADA’s Prohibited
List so there are no threshold concentrations or
decision limits to worry about right now — just
having it in your system isn’t an anti-doping rule
violation. That said, WADA’s strict liability principle
still applies to prohibited items and substances can
move from monitored to banned if evidence justi昀椀es
it. Stay alert to that possibility each January when
the new List and Monitoring Program are released.
Talk to us
Our sports law team is widely recognised as one of
the most experienced and multidisciplinary groups
in the industry, advising athletes and organisations
on complex regulatory issues.
If you have a legitimate medical need, speak to your
team doctor and your anti-doping organisation
about a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) and keep
pristine documentation.
With specialists in anti-doping compliance –
including UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) Accredited
Advisor Catherine Forshaw and practising
pharmacist
and
trusted
national
health
commentator Thorrun Govind – we provide clear,
practical guidance on WADA rules, TUEs and the
evolving status of substances.
On detection, semaglutide behaves di昀昀erently from
many classic doping agents. Very little of the intact
drug molecules appear in urine so anti-doping
labs focus on blood tests. This includes dried blood
spots (DBS) and use liquid chromatography–mass
spectrometry to detect the modi昀椀ed peptides.
WADA has speci昀椀cally funded method development
for GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide, liraglutide and
tirzepatide (a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist more
commonly known as ‘Mounjaro’), re昀氀ecting the
interest in targeted surveillance as usage grows. In
practice — if a lab looks for it — semaglutide can be
found in blood for weeks due to its pharmacokinetics.
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
If you need advice on permitted use, monitoring
requirements or risk management, get in touch
today for a con昀椀dential consultation by calling
0333 004 4488 or emailing hello@brabners.com
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APRIL 2026
