The International Testing Agency published its first public Therapeutic Use Exemption dashboard on Tuesday, March 17, showing that cycling recorded 323 TUE applications between 2019 and 2025, second only to equestrian's 379 among sports whose programmes the agency manages.
The dashboard covers 3,528 total applications across the seven-year span. Of that total, 2,361 (66.9%) were approved, 903 (25.6%) were withdrawn or deemed unnecessary, 75 (2.1%) were denied, and 186 (5.3%) remain pending. The overall volume of applications has grown steadily over recent years, with the ITA processing 852 requests in 2025 alone.
TUEs allow athletes to use a substance or method on WADA's Prohibited List for a legitimate medical reason. Applications are assessed by an independent TUE Committee composed of physicians, and the ITA said there is no scientific evidence that a properly granted exemption provides a performance advantage. The dashboard is the first time this data has been made publicly available in aggregated form.
Toby Cunliffe-Steel, a former New Zealand rower and member of WADA's Athlete Council, said the initiative should help demystify a process that often attracts scepticism. "When information is hard to access, it can lead to confusion or suspicion," Cunliffe-Steel said. "Making anonymised data available in a clear, digestible way helps show what TUEs actually look like in practice, without compromising athletes' privacy."
Cycling's position near the top of the list does not indicate misuse, though the sport's history with anti-doping ensures such figures are closely watched, and will recall controversies around Bradley Wiggins' controversial Triamcinolone TUE. The ITA said that variation between sports can reflect athlete pool size, the length of time a federation has delegated TUE management to the agency, and the degree of professionalisation within a sport's anti-doping structures. The UCI was among the earlier federations to hand its TUE programme to the ITA, meaning cycling's seven-year total draws from a longer reporting window than some other sports.
The most requested substance across all sports was methylphenidate, an ADHD medication, which accounted for 944 applications from 2019 to 2025. That figure refers to applications, not individual athletes, as a single TUE request can cover more than one substance. Glucocorticoids, used for inflammatory conditions, and beta-2 agonists, commonly prescribed for asthma, also featured prominently. A small number of applications related to hormone replacement therapy or insulin for diabetes management.
TUE Applications by Sport
Total Therapeutic Use Exemption applications submitted to the ITA, 2019–2025
Sport | Volume |
|---|---|
| Aquatics | |
| Archery | |
| Cycling | |
| Equestrian | |
| Field Hockey | |
| Gymnastics | |
| Lacrosse | |
| Rowing | |
| Taekwondo | |
| Weightlifting |
The overall volume of applications has grown steadily, from roughly 650 in 2023 to 852 in 2025, an increase of approximately 25%. The ITA attributed that rise to more International Federations delegating their TUE programmes to the agency rather than to an increase in athletes needing prohibited substances for medical treatment.
The publication sits within a broader push toward transparency in anti-doping governance. WADA's 2024 Testing Figures Report, released separately, showed 297,965 samples analysed globally, with adverse analytical findings running at 0.78%. A valid TUE is one of the steps that can explain an adverse finding without it becoming an anti-doping rule violation.
The ITA said the dashboard will be updated annually, giving cycling and other sports a public baseline for a part of anti-doping that has, until now, been discussed largely through anecdote.
Cover image credit: © SWpix.com (t/a Photography Hub Ltd)
