Ben Ainslie has revealed that several British sailing squad members are close to “three strikes and you’re out” with regard to out-of-competition drugs tests.

Ainslie, who recently won his fifth Finn world championship, was speaking at a Sports Journalists’ Association lunch. He referred to the demands of the testing regime under which an athlete in any sport risks a ban if they miss three tests in an 18-month period.

“I am not worried that there is doping in sailing,” Ainslie told insidethegames.

“But the whereabouts rule is a real worry. There are two or three guys on the team who are on three strikes and you’re out.

“It might all be for perfectly innocent reasons, but in our sport, where we are travelling all the time, it can be really hard just keeping up.”

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