BWL Anti-Doping Summary of Activities (2025)

As an organisation, we believe in clean sport for the integrity of the sport and to allow our athletes to compete in a fair sporting environment.

We continue to work with the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), World Para Powerlifting (WPPO), World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) in the fight against doping. We enforce a strict zero-tolerance approach to doping and conduct a full anti-doping programme that covers the vital areas of raising awareness, education, and supporting UKAD in their testing programme (both in and out of competition) and their results management.  We believe that education, as a prevention strategy, will help to promote the values of clean sport and preserve the spirit of the sport. 

Compliance 

We continue to adhere to the UK National Anti-Doping Policy which was launched in April 2021.  This is an essential document which sets out the roles and responsibilities of several organisations in the UK, including UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), the Sports Councils and National Governing Bodies.  Launched alongside the 2021 Policy, the Assurance Framework is used by UKAD to assess NGB compliance against a number of mandatory requirements. We complete annual submissions providing information and evidence of our compliance with the Assurance Framework requirements.  

In line with UKAD regulations and the Assurance Framework we continue to review and amend where necessary our Clean Sport Education Strategy and Implementation Plan both of which were  been reviewed and approved by UKAD in November 2024.  This strategy and plan help us comply with the seven core components identified by UKAD.  We continue to utilise the UKAD Clean Sport Hub to upload evidence and demonstrate our compliance to the regulations. 

Following recommendations from UKAD, in 2025 we made our recording and monitoring of athlete and athlete support personnel education more robust by introducing an internal tracker and requesting evidence of athlete education (where relevant). The internal tracker enables us to have a proactive approach to anti-doping education compliance by monitoring education expiration dates which are then built into relevant planning processes.  

We have worked collaboratively with our Home Nations supporting them in maintaining their athlete compliance by providing information on UKAD/WADA athlete education requirements and coordinating and facilitating the recording of evidence in line with given deadlines for major games/event that are required by UKAD/WADA. 

Information Provision/Raising Awareness 

Our website has been fully updated to include comprehensive clean sport information which is available to the full BWL audience.  This includes the current UKAD and WADA rules and regulations, anti-doping rule violations, top tips for clean sport, the Prohibited List, checking medications, use of supplements, applying for a therapeutic use exemption (TUE), the testing process and how to report suspicions of doping. In 2025 we promoted our alignment with the International Weightlifting Federation’s position in relation to the Enhanced Games which concurs with the current UKAD position as of September 2025. 

We have continued to send specific information out to all our members and affiliated clubs on matters regarding anti-doping to keep everyone up to date on rules and regulations.  Our Lift Clean Awareness online course, which is available free of charge to all current members, was reviewed by UKAD as being comprehensive in November 2024 . We continue to promote this course to our members.  

We have continued to grow our presence at multi-fitness events and have been commended by UKAD for using this opportunity to promote clean sport to the wider sporting community. In 2025 we attended and prominently displayed clean sport banners and leaflet at events such as Fit Fest, Battle Cancer, Strength in Depth and Just Lift. 

Education 

As part of our education provision, throughout 2025 we continue to provide specific anti-doping education to a number of athletes and athlete support personnel: All BWL UKAD Educator sessions follow the UKAD Clean Sport Curriculum and we promote UKAD run webinars to our athletes.   

Throughout 2025 we have strengthened our working relationship with UKAD, working collaboratively with them to mitigate the duplication in domestic and international anti-doping education requirements.  UKAD were able to offer a bespoke education package for athletes competing internationally that complimented the WADA education rather than duplicating it. We supported our international level athletes throughout this process by providing information on what was required when, monitoring their course completion and recording their evidence. In 2025 we provided this support and facilitation to our Home Nations athlete pool. 

Through this process, we have learned that effective working relationships built on open, evidence-led conversations are essential to reaching common goals and sustaining engagement across the athlete community.  

Testing 

We support UKAD in their planning and delivery of their testing programme by completing an annual information gathering survey. Through the survey we provide details (known at the time of completion) of all BWL scheduled competitions, athlete training schedules, athlete training camps and athlete attendance at international competitions. According to reports from UKAD on their National Anti-Doping Testing Programme, the following tests have been conducted.  

Weightlifting	In Competition	Out of Competition	Total
1 January 2024 – 31 September 2024	14	45	59
1 October 2024 – 31 December 2024	2	23	25
1 January 2025 – 31 March 2025	0	12	12
1 April 2025 – 30 June 2025	1	9	10
Total	17	89	106

 

Para Powerlifting	In Competition	Out of Competition	Total
1 January 2024 – 31 September 2024	0	33	33
1 October 2024 – 31 December 2024	2	1	3
1 January 2025 – 31 March 2025	0	5	5
1 April 2025 – 30 June 2025	0	2	2
Total	2	41	43

2026 Plan 

As of 1 January 2024, the International Weightlifting Federation’s (IWF) Member Federations are categorised based on the doping risk to the sport and are required to fulfil specific anti-doping requirements for athletes to be eligible to compete at the IWF World Junior Championships, IWF World Championships and the Olympic Games. The anti-doping requirements applicable for the Olympic Games shall apply exclusively during an Olympic year. 

Throughout 2025 BWL remained a Category C within the IWF guidelines for categorisation of member federations. However, for 2026 BWL/GBR have moved to a Category B this change means that there are minimum testing and education requirements that our athletes must comply with in order to compete internationally.  

We will work closely with UKAD, the IWF and our athletes to implement and effective implementation plan to ensure we remain compliant with all relevant anti-doping requirements.  

Download the report here