One of the leading German canoeists was secretly closed for four years after doping, after being tested positively for three different anabolic staples, as the ARD doping editorial team learned exclusively.
Martin Hiller, one of the best canoeists in Germany and bronze medalist at the World Cup last year, has been lacking in the national team squad since the beginning of the new season. The process was not made public, although the 25-year-old was legally closed for four years in February due to doping in a difficult case.
It is the first name of a convicted doper that is publicly anonymous by research by the ARD from a total number of up to 130 previously kept. Since March 2020, they have been convicted of doping by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), but their names did not publish for data protection reasons.
Hiller was world champion and European champion in 2022 and took bronze over 1000 meters in the K2 in August last year at the World Championships in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. But just a few weeks later, the Potsdam athlete was positively tested in a doping control outside of the competition in October. Another control in the following month was positive again.
Four -year lock accepted
Hiller made no appointment against the final decision of the NADA in early 2025. He accepted the four -year lock, and on February 14th the entire case was completed.
Kanute Martin Hiller, former world and European champion
“Three anabolic active ingredients have been found, which for us in the evaluation of the case meant that we found so-called aggravating circumstances, so that we are with a total sentence or overall rating of four years,” confirmed the NADA CEO Lars Mortsiefer at the request of the ARD sports show. The positive findings rejected the steroids Methandrostenolon and Methandienon – a widespread highly effective doping agent – as well as Ostarin, a more new product with a similar effect and muscle -building properties.
According to the Sportschau, the Potsdam public prosecutor’s office carried out criminal investigations. A few days ago, under the file number 426 JS 46545/24, she applied for a penalty order against Hiller for violating the anti-doping law in the amount of 30 daily rates A. Hiller was not available for a statement at short notice.
“We assume that the NADA will publish”
The sports director of the German Canoe Association, Jens Kahl, confirmed the case on request during the World Cup at the weekend in Poznan and added: “We assume that NADA will then publish such things.” Hillers Club, the KC Potsdam, apparently deleted the profile of the doping sinner from his website from a biographies overview of the athletes.
The NADA announced that it had informed the responsible institutions about the case, including the world-anti-doping agency and “the relevant national and international sports associations”. She herself would probably not have published the doping case until the summer of 2025 – as a pure number in statistics and as a nameless line in an overview. So far, however, none of this has come to the public – which contradicts the principles of transparency and deterrence that is often mentioned as the cornerstone of doping fighting.
In this case, it became clear how far the secrecy went when sports show researchers asked the German team at the World Cup in Poznan. “Uh, yes, exactly, Martin Hiller is not there that, uh, what can I say, I’m not saying anything now, yes,” said Anton Winkelmann. Others only said they thought he ended his career.