Last week, CrossFit announced four athletes who failed their drug test at one of the Semifinal competitions. Of those four, three were from the individual men’s field at the Asia Semifinal. To make it even wilder, those three positive drug tests came from athletes who finished in the top four of the overall standings.
Ivan Kukartsev (1st), Ilyas Kuliev (3rd) and Anatolii Borisenko (4th) all tested positive for banned substances. With Asia sending two athletes to the CrossFit Games, Kukartsev was to join Arthur Semenov in Ft. Worth to represent the Asia Semifinal. However, with Kukartsev’s failed test, CrossFit has invited 5th place finisher, Ilya Makarov, to backfill Kukartsev’s spot.
While inviting Makarov now provides the Russian athlete enough time to get his visa lined up, the timing is peculiar as all three athletes who failed their drug test have appealed the results and a final ruling has not been announced.
Makarov has competed in the CrossFit Open since times, beginning in 2017. He skipped 2022 and 2023 Open before returning this season. Makarov finished 296th in the world during the Open and followed that up with an 11th place finish in Asia for Quarterfinals before finishing 5th at the Asia Semifinal.
This past season Makarov finished 2nd overall at the 2023 ELFIT Championship, only behind fellow CrossFit Games qualifier Ruan Potgieter.
