David Howman, chair of the Athletics Integrity Unit, says current efforts to catch dopers have "stalled".

David Howman, the straight-talking and experienced chair of the Athletics Integrity Unit, told the World Conference on Doping in Sport this month that the global anti-doping system has “stalled” and is not as effective as it should be.

Speaking at the conference in Korea, he said: “Let's be honest and pragmatic... intentional dopers at elite level are evading detection. We are not effective enough nowadays in catching cheats. We have great education programmes which help but they don't impact the intentional rule-breakers in elite sport."

“Our ineffectiveness in dealing with those who are beating the rules is hurting the anti-doping movement's credibility, with the resulting risk that our clean-sport message falls on deaf ears."

The AIU has developed a good reputation in athletics in recent years for catching a number of high-profile drugs offenders. But Howman said that despite priding itself on its “demonstrated ability to catch elite athletes who are cheating, the AIU is not catching enough of them and significant improvements are necessary."

Howman who spent 13 years as Director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency, urged the anti-doping community to “move beyond compliance to a system that supports effective, ambitious anti-doping efforts."

Querying if there can be collaboration across sporting disciplines to unearth the best science, best data and best testing, he suggested Anti-Doping Organisations (ADOs) be supported with the best investigative and scientific tools – and incentivised to succeed – while also being properly motivated to pursue anti-doping excellence.

“A renewed focus on scientific research with closer alignment between WADA and cutting-edge ADOs on research priorities and opportunities would be beneficial," he said. "The International Standards might be better scrutinised regularly to ensure they fully support investigative efforts to uncover doping."

Championing anti-doping excellence rather than compliance-based testing, Howman asserted the latter holds little hope of “catching sophisticated dopers”. He called for “greater transparency on anti-doping data” and proactivity by WADA in “promoting the pursuit of anti-doping excellence”.

In closing, he cited the AlU's mantra – "the right test, the right athlete, the right time" – and stressed the organisation’s adherence to intelligence-led, targeted anti-doping work.

“We recommend this approach and are happy to knowledge-share,” he said. "We all want a cleaner sports landscape. We must all do better to support our clean athletes by catching the dirty ones, especially those at the pinnacle of sport. Let's resolve to strengthen our anti-doping system as we strive for cleaner, fairer and more credible sport!”