Meldonium accounts for almost a quarter of doping infractions by Russian competitors so far this year ©Getty Images

Meldonium has been the most common prohibited drug used by Russian competitors in 2022, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) has announced.

Of the 57 recorded cases of the use of prohibited drugs, 14 involved meldonium, according to Veronika Loginova, RUSADA’s general director.

Speaking at an international symposium on sports medicine and rehabilitation, Loginova, as reported by Russian news agency TASS, said:

"This year, we have recorded 57 cases of detection of prohibited substances in the samples of athletes.

"And in 14 cases out of 57 there was meldonium.

"It’s funny and sad, because almost everyone knows that meldonium is prohibited.

"This is a lot."

Multiple Grand Slam tennis champion Maria Sharapova was the highest profile Russian athlete to test positive for meldonium, which was put onto the WADA banned substances list in 2016 ©Getty Images
Multiple Grand Slam tennis champion Maria Sharapova was the highest profile Russian athlete to test positive for meldonium, which was put onto the WADA banned substances list in 2016 ©Getty Images

Loginova added that among the athletes caught with meldonium in their samples there are also athletes of a very high level, who, when asked where the substance in their sample came from, replied: "We have no idea where."

Meldonium is a drug used to counteract coronary heart disease by maximising the flow of blood.

It is believed to boost endurance and has been prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency since January 1 2016.

Nearly 500 doping failures for the drug were recorded throughout 2016, almost 300 of whom were Russian competitors.

Most notably, Russia's five-times Grand Slam tennis winner Maria Sharapova, now retired, served a 15-month ban.

Many athletes claimed at the time that they were unaware the drug had been banned.

In the wake of the surge in positive cases in 2016, the World Anti-Doping Agency published data from an interim study on the timing of the removal of the substance from the body, as a result of which most Russian and foreign athletes were acquitted.