Sednev, who retired in December, was reportedly targeted in a bid to re-test older samples which were described as having "atypical" results.

The Ukrainian Biathlon Federation (UBF) said the 31-year-old provided a sample in January 2013 but claims they were only notified last month that it contained a banned substance, which is yet to be disclosed.

The development comes after IBU President Anders Besseberg announced the sport is set to be hit with the biggest doping scandal in its history.

"I cannot go into detail, but it has positive samples and it concerns athletes from several nations," Besseberg told Norwegian television station NRK.

"Thanks to new technologies we have been developed new methods for testing, so we were able to test again the old samples.

"Because of this, we found new positive cases.

"We put the samples that are considered suspicious and not very clean, and look forward to new techniques that can identify these samples, if finally is something wrong with them or they are clean."

Russia's Ekaterina Iourieva could have her doping ban extended as a result of the new measures ©Getty Images



Recently, biathlon has been rocked by a number of doping scandals, and under the new measures Russian athletes Ekaterina Iourieva and Irina Starykh are set to face extended bans as a result of their samples being re-analysed.

Both were suspended after testing positive for prohibited substance erythropoietin (EPO) before the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Earlier in December, IBU vice-president Gottlieb Taschler was at the centre of a doping storm after it was claimed he had arranged a meeting with notorious doctor Michele Ferrari - who was involved in the Lance Armstrong cycling furore - and his son Daniel Taschler, who is a member of the Italian biathlon team.